Undergraduate Music Audition Requirements

Audition requirements for an online audition are the same as those for in-person auditions. Please find undergraduate audition requirements by major below.

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 first year students, audition materials should include:

an etude,
two movements of contrasting nature and tempi from a sonata or concerto,
all major scales and arpeggios, and
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.

As part of the Conservatory’s mission to advance diversity and inclusion in all forms, we strongly suggest that one or more of your selections be written by a composer from an underrepresented group(s), such as, but not limited to, works by Asian, BIPOC, Latinx, LGBTQ+, and women composers, or other underrepresented identities.

Note: Brass auditions must be performed without accompaniment.

Composition

Pre-screen required

Applicants to the Bachelor in Music 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.
Include an accompanying score for each submitted recording.
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 but not required.
In 1-2 pages, discuss three musical artists from any style or musical tradition who have influenced your own music-making. Discuss how they have inspired you.

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.

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:

1. Two contrasting works or movements of the applicant’s choosing from two contrasting periods (baroque, classical, Romantic, contemporary). Use the following list of works as a guide for appropriate difficulty:

Marcel Grandjany: Fantasie on a Theme by Haydn
Giovanni Battista Pescetti: Sonata in C Minor (any edition)
Marcel Tournier: “Vers la source dans le bois”
Arturo Márquez: “Son” from Zarabanda y Son
Brandee Younger: “Essence of Ruby”

2. 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. (This work should be a maximum of five minutes for undergraduate applicants and a maximum of seven minutes for graduate applicants.)

3. One orchestral excerpt of the applicant’s choosing. Use the following list of excerpts as a guide for appropriate difficulty:

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: "Waltz of the Flowers" cadenza from Nutcracker Nikolai
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Español, movement 4 cadenza or movement 5 (complete)
Benjamin Britten: The 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.

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 the two-mallet and/or four-mallet solos, 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:

Five-octave Marimba One marimba
Yamaha xylophone
Three-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

Pre-screen required

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

This pre-screen recording should be a minimum of 30 minutes in length. It must include the virtuosic etude and at least three additional pieces selected from the audition requirements below. It is permissible to select a movement or movements from the classical sonata or from multi-movement romantic or contemporary pieces for the pre-screen as long as the total program is at least 30 minutes.

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 in order to well represent your skills and also demonstrate something unique about yourself as a musician.

Strings

Violin and Cello

Pre-screen required

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

This pre-screen must include:

Two movements of unaccompanied Bach
A complete first or last movement from the standard concerto repertoire
A third work sample of your choice, keeping this work or excerpt between two and three minutes in total length. This sample does not necessarily need to be from the classical style, and can include 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.
Piano accompaniment is not required

Viola and Double Bass

No pre-screen required

Live Audition Requirements: Violin, Viola, Cello, and Double Bass

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 encouraged, 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. If you would like to work with a pianist, please contact the chair of instrumental studies, 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)
Opera arias are not allowed

Please note: Any repertoire found in the 24/26/28 Italian Songs and Arias books may be presented as an art song offering. Any comparable literature found outside the 24/26/28 Italian Songs and Arias books, regardless of composer, will be considered only as the composer originally intended, either as an aria or an art song. Please avoid presenting an aria from the traditional or contemporary canons of operatic literature. Oratorio and concert arias appropriate to a student’s level of study are permissible and may replace an art song offering.

As part of the Conservatory’s mission to advance diversity and inclusion in all forms, we require that at least one of your selections be written by a composer from an underrepresented group(s), such as, but not limited to, works by Asian, BIPOC, Latinx, LGBTQ+, and women composers, or other underrepresented identities.

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

Flute

Pre-screen required

All flute 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 must include:

One etude
One piece of your choice with contrasting movements or sections
No piano accompaniment

Live Audition Requirements

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.

Oboe

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”

Clarinet

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.

Bassoon

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.

Saxophone

No pre-screen required

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

Astor Piazzolla: Tango Etudes
Franz Wilhelm Ferling: 48 Etudes
Benoit Berbiguier: 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.

Berklee is committed to providing equitable access to our auditions and interviews. Please contact admissions@berklee.edu to inquire about any accommodation or accessibility needs.