Undergraduate Music Audition Requirements

Brass

horn, trumpet, trombone, bass trombone, euphonium, tuba

No pre-screen required.

For transfer students, please prepare the graduate requirements for your audition. For incoming freshmen, audition materials should include:

• An etude
• Two movements of contrasting nature and tempi from a sonata or concerto
• All major scales and arpeggios
• Possible sight-reading
• Optional: A work of your choice from any musical genre or cultural background about which you are passionate as an artist. This may include original works or arrangements by the applicant or any other selection from the repertoire.

Note: Instrumental auditions must be performed without accompaniment.

Composition

Pre-screen required.

• Applicants to the B.M. in composition should submit a portfolio consisting of two to four recent works (no more) which were written in the last three years, at least one of which must be for two or more instruments.
• Scores should be legibly notated (by hand or by computer).
• Recordings of performances of your works, if available, are encouraged. Good quality midi is acceptable. 
• Include an accompanying score for each submitted recording.
• Write a short essay describing your musical influences and areas of interest and what you hope to achieve as a composer.

All of the above pre-screen materials must be submitted online. Based on your portfolio, applicants may be invited to interview on campus or online. Applicants will meet with a faculty panel to ask and answer questions about their process, influences, and professional goals.

Applicants do not need to bring any additional materials (such as score copies) to the interview; the interview will not include a request for a live performance. Composition applicants will be required to complete an assessment to give the faculty a sense of each applicant's compositional aptitude. The assessment will be distributed online at the conclusion of the audition day and will consist of a short composition-based assignment and an orchestration assignment. Students will have 24 hours to complete the assessment.

Harp

No pre-screen required.

Instrumental auditions must be performed without accompaniment. Candidates auditioning in Boston may use Conservatory harps to practice and audition during the day of the audition only. To arrange use of a Conservatory harp, please contact the Conservatory music division via email at bcbmusic@berklee.edu. Available harps include a new Lyon-Healy (style 100), Salvi (Daphne), and Camac (Atlantide Prestige). Applicants may also choose to bring their own harp.

Applicants should prepare the following repertoire for a live or recorded audition:

Choose one etude:

• Bochsa: Fifty Studies, op. 34, Book II (Hasselmans edition), No. 39 (E-flat Major)
• Pozzoli: Studies of Moderate Difficulty, No. 5
• Two solo pieces

Choose two of the following pieces, or play two compositions of similar or higher degree of difficulty. Please contact the department coordinator for repertoire approval.

• Grandjany: Fantasie on a Theme by Haydn
• Salzedo: Whirlwind
• Dussek: Sonata in C minor (any edition)
• Pescetti: Sonata in C minor (any edition)
• Tournier: Féerie
• Tournier: Vers la source dans le bois
• Handel: Passacaglia from Suite No. 7 (any edition)

Choose two of the following orchestra excerpts

• Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker, "Waltz of the Flowers" Cadenza
• Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake, Cadenza
• Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Español
• Britten: Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Cadenza and/or Fugue 

Percussion

No pre-screen required.

Auditions must be performed without accompaniment.

Applicants must demonstrate proficiency in the three areas described below. You are encouraged to program creatively so as to represent your skills well and also demonstrate something unique about yourself as a musician. We encourage and welcome music written by BIPOC and women composers.

Snare Drum

Perform both of the following, totaling about four minutes:

• Concert etude. Suggested composers: J. Delécluse, M. Peters, S. Solomon
• Rudimental solo. Suggested composers: J. Pratt, J. Tompkins, C. Wilcoxon

Mallets (xylophone, marimba, or vibraphone)

Perform both of the following, totaling at least four minutes:

• Two-mallet solo. Suggested composers: Bach (preferably from Sonatas and Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin or Suites for Unaccompanied Cello), or other classical composers’ adapted works (from any instrument), or selections from the MassChap 2010 Xylophone Collection.
• Four-mallet solo. For suggestions, see Recommended Solos and Database of Marimba Music by BIPOC Composers compiled by Southern California Marimba (Executive and Artistic Director Christina Cheon, M.M. '16, marimba performance).

Note: For two-mallet and/or four-mallet solo, creative adaptations of any other composers' works are most welcome. In general, pieces with tempo fluctuations and a variety of rhythms and characters are preferred over perpetual motion pieces.

Timpani

Perform the following, totaling about three minutes:

• Solo piece, about three minutes in duration. Suggested composers: N. Woud, R. Hochrainer, V. Firth, R Carroll, T. Adams

Note: Etudes that demonstrate standard orchestral timpani musicianship are preferred (e.g., Woud or Hochrainer etudes are preferred over Carter solos).

For on-campus auditions in Boston, the following instruments will be provided in your audition:

• 5-octave Marimba One marimba
• Yamaha xylophone
• 3-octave Adams vibraphone 
• Walter Light timpani (with Dresden pedals)
• Pearl Philharmonic snare drum (but you are welcome to bring your own)

Similar instruments will be available in warm-up rooms.

Piano

No pre-screen required.

For the audition, applicants should prepare all of the following. Multi-movement works must be prepared in their entirety. All works are to be performed from memory. Incomplete audition requirements will not be accepted.

• A prelude and fugue from the Well-Tempered Clavier or another work by Bach that includes a fugue
• A complete sonata by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, or Schubert
• A major work for solo piano from the Romantic Era (including Rachmaninoff)
• A solo piano piece from the second half of the 20th or 21st century
• One virtuosic etude, such as those by Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, or Ligeti

Applicants are encouraged to program creatively to well represent your skills and also demonstrate something unique about yourself as a musician.

Strings

violin, viola, cello, double bass

No pre-screen required.

• An etude or short technical work that best demonstrates your ability to shift freely around the instrument with good control of bowing articulation
• Two contrasting movements of unaccompanied Bach (bass players may substitute with another work of their choice)
• A complete first or last movement from the standard concerto repertoire
• A work of your choice from any musical genre or cultural background about which you are passionate as an artist. This may include original works or arrangements by the applicant or any other selection from the repertoire.
• There may be brief sight-reading at the live audition
• Piano accompaniment is permitted, but not required
• Memorization is not required

It is not required that you perform your audition with piano accompaniment, and the Conservatory cannot provide an accompanist for you. But for those who would like to work with a pianist, please contact the chair of instrumental music, Matthew Marsit, to ask for a list of local collaborative pianists for hire. You must schedule and hire the accompanist if you need one. A piano will be available for warm-up and in the audition room.

Voice

Pre-screen required.

All voice applicants are required to submit a pre-screen video recording by the application deadline. After you submit a completed application, you will be sent instructions on how to register and submit pre-screen videos.

This pre-screen recording must be accompanied, and it should include three contrasting pieces that are representative of the audition requirements (below). This does not have to be the same repertoire you plan to sing for your audition.

• All works are to be performed from memory
• Three art songs:
  • One in Italian
  • One in French or German
  • One in English (not in translation)
• No operatic arias, please

As part of our mission to promote diversity and inclusion in all that we do at the Conservatory, we recommend that at least one of your selections be written by an underrepresented composer (works by women, BIPOC, Asian, or Latinx composers, or other underrepresented groups).

Recordings may not be edited for either audio or video enhancement.

Applicants whose first language is not English are welcome to perform a piece of classical repertoire in their first language in addition to the above requirements. This piece can be included in the applicant’s pre-screen submission and in their prepared pieces if invited for an audition. Please note: This piece should not replace any of the required repertoire.

If invited for a live audition, the audition requirements are the same as the pre-screen requirements. Following the audition, each applicant will also have a short conversation and debrief with current voice department students. For on-campus auditions in Boston, a professional staff pianist is provided, but you may choose to bring your own accompanist. Practice rooms will be available on the day of your audition.

Note: Auditions for the Bachelor of Music in voice with an opera emphasis take place after the fourth semester of enrollment.

Woodwinds

Flutes

Undergraduate

No pre-screen required.

• One etude chosen from either the Kohler Romantic Etudes, op. 66 or the Karg Elert Caprices, op. 107
• Two contrasting works or movements from two contrasting periods (baroque, classical, Romantic, contemporary)
• A work of your choice from any musical genre or cultural background, about which you are passionate as an artist. This may include original works or arrangements by the applicant, or any other selection from the repertoire.

Oboes

Undergraduate

No pre-screen required.

• Two contrasting (slow/fast) etudes: one selection from Barret’s 40 Progressive Melodies, and one selection from either the Barret 15 Grand Studies or 48 Ferling Etudes
• Your choice of one slow and one fast movement from a baroque or classical concerto
• William Grant Still, “Incantation and Dance”

Clarinets

Undergraduate

No pre-screen required.

• All major and minor scales, both slurred and articulated, preferably three octaves 
• Two contrasting pieces from the Rose Thirty-Two Etudes for Clarinet
• One concerto of applicant’s choice
• A work of your choice from any musical genre or cultural background about which you are passionate as an artist. This may include original works or arrangements by the applicant or any other selection from the repertoire.

Bassoons

Undergraduate

No pre-screen required.

All major and minor scales, full range

Required Etudes: 

• Ludwig Milde Concert Studies op. 26, no. 1
• Weissenborn Method for Bassoon Etude, No.15

Solos:

• Two contrasting works or movements from two contrasting periods (baroque, classical, Romantic, contemporary)
• A work of your choice from any musical genre or cultural background, about which you are passionate as an artist. This may include original works or arrangements by the applicant or any other selection from the repertoire.

Saxophones

Undergraduate

No pre-screen required.

Two contrasting etudes (one slow etude, one fast) from the following:

• Astor Piazzolla: Tango Etudes
• Ferling: 48 Etudes
• Berbigier: 18 Etudes

One of the following (or comparable) work:

• Paule Maurice: Tableaux de Provence (pub. Leduc)
• Paul Bonneau: Suite (pub. Leduc)
• Yusef Lateef: Sonata No. 1 (composer’s website)
• Alexander Glazunov: Concerto (pub. Leduc. or Kalmus)
• Fernande Decruck:  Sonata or Pièces Françaises (pub. Billaudot)
• Paul Creston: Sonata (pub. Shawnee)
• Lucie Robert: Rhapsodie (pub. Dorn)
• Darius Milhaud: Scaramouche (pub. Salabert)

Additional piece (optional):

• A work of your choice from any musical genre or cultural background, about which you are passionate as an artist. This may include original works or arrangements by the applicant, or any other selection from the repertoire.