UNF School of Music Auditions

Saxophone, Trombone and Trumpet

• Audition Requirements
  1. Auditionees should prepare six scales: Major (C, C# and D) and Minor (Eb natural minor, E harmonic minor and F melodic minor).
  2. Auditionees should prepare a transcription or etude, medium swing or up, at least 16 bars long.
  3. Auditionees may be asked to improvise one F or Bb blues (one head and two solo choruses, medium tempo) and one American Songbook or jazz standard; performed with a rhythm section or play along.
  4. Students who play multiple instruments should demonstrate their proficiency on the secondary instrument. One brief prepared piece or étude on each secondary instrument is sufficient.

Bass

• Audition Requirements
  1. Auditionees should prepare six scales: Major (C, C# and D) and Minor (Eb natural minor, E harmonic minor and F melodic minor).
  2. Auditionees may be asked to improvise one F or Bb blues, walking basslines, head and soloing optional; American Songbook or jazz standard walking basslines, head and soloing optional; performed with a rhythm section or play along. 
  3. Auditionees who play acoustic and electric bass should demonstrate their proficiency on each instrument. One brief prepared piece or étude on each instrument is sufficient.
  4.  Auditionees who are bass players must demonstrate proficiency in various styles such as Swing, Bossa Nova, Samba, and Funk. Please perform brief excerpts of these styles.

Jazz Drum Set

• Audition Requirements

  The UNF jazz drum set audition will be a live audition. Students should prepare the following:

  1. Choose a 12 Bar Blues, such as Billie’s Bounce, Now’s The Time, or a jazz standard, such as Solar or All The Things You Are and be prepared to play the selection with a rhythm section, and take a 1 chorus drum solo on the song form.
  2. Perform 30 seconds (each) in the following styles
     
     • Slow swing (90 BPM)
     • Medium swing (160 BPM)
     • Fast Swing (220 BPM)
     • Bossa Nova (120 BPM)
     • Samba (240 BPM)
     • Funk/Rock
     • Latin Cascara
     • Songo
     3. Be prepared to sight read a big band chart excerpt in swing style, performing the selection as though you were playing in a big band.

  For helpful audition tips, please view the full version of Professor Gottlieb’s “Ace The School Audition” video for Drum! magazine.

Jazz Guitar

• Audition Requirements

  All jazz guitar applicants are required to submit a video recording. The recording must include all of the repertoire listed below. Recordings may be mailed or uploaded to DropBox or an equivalent cloud sharing platform. It is not required that the format be a professional or studio recording, however, the sound quality must be good as possible. Students must demonstrate the ability to improvise and play with a rhythm section, using a live band or play-along recording.

  1. Required piece (must be first on the recording): the 12-Bar Blues piece, Billie’s Bounce in medium tempo (minimum of four improvised choruses).

  2. Perform three other selections (one must be a ballad) in different jazz styles, moods and tempos (minimum of two improvised choruses for each selection).
  3. Demonstrate “comping” on a standard song of your choice.
  4. Original compositions should not be included.

Jazz Piano

• Audition Requirements
  1. Auditionees should submit six scales: Major (C, C# and D) and Minor (Eb natural minor, E harmonic minor and F melodic minor).
  2. Auditionees must perform one 12-Bar Blues piece, Billie’s Bounce or Now’s the Time in medium tempo (play the melody once and improvise a minimum of three choruses).
  3. Auditionees must play one American Songbook or jazz standard; performed with a rhythm section or play along. Tunes such as Solar, Blue Bossa, All the Things You Are or other jazz standards are acceptable; play the melody and improvise over the chord changes.
  4. Auditionees must demonstrate one chorus of “comping” on a standard song of your choice. It is fine to comp on the American Songbook song you have selected.

Piano

• Audition Requirements
  1. A work from the Baroque style period (i.e. a Two- or Three-Part Inversion or Prelude and Fugue by J.S. Bach, a dance movement or suite, etc.)
  2. A movement from a Classical sonata (i.e. Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert)
  3. A work from either the 19th, 20th, or 21st century
  4. 4-octave scales and arpeggios in all major and minor keys
  5. Sight reading

  Audition material must be performed from memory. Auditionees who submit videos must demonstrate abilities required by items 4 and 5 above upon their arrival to UNF.

Required Portfolio

• Requirements

  Your portfolio should consist of:

  1. Two-three works of original electronic music or of recordings for which the prospective student served as audio engineer.
  2. Technical notes for each track (e.g., a detailed description of the hardware and software used to create and/or capture the music).

  The portfolio should be submitted by the student's selected audition date.

Brass, Guitar, Strings, Woodwinds and Voice

• Audition Requirements

  We will assess your musical skills to ensure that you can pass the core music courses (music theory, ear training, class piano). These classes require Music Technology and Production students to develop strong musical skills in addition to expertise in technology.

  1. One or two pieces of your choice, in the styles of your choice.
  2. Sight reading
  3. Major Scales

Drum Set

• Audition Requirements

  Students are required to prepare the following:

  1. Assorted drum set styles:
     • Light rock
     • Funk
     • Boss nova
     • Samba
     • Swing (moderate tempo)
     • Swing (fast tempo)
     • Jazz waltz
      
  2. Trade 4’s in swing: Repeatedly play four bars of time followed by four bars of fill/solo
  3. Trade 4’s in rock: repeatedly play four bars of time followed by four bars of fill/solo
  4. One published snare drum solo: rudimental or symphonic. Recommended sources are:  
     • Intermediate or Advanced Snare Drum Studies by Mitchell Peters
     • 14 Modern Contest Solos by J. Pratt
     • Portraits in Rhythm by A. Cirone
     • The All-American Drummer/ 150 Rudimental Solos by Charley Wilcoxon (prepare two short selections or one long selection (entire page))
      
  5. Perform all major scales and arpeggios on piano, xylophone or any other instrument in one octave

  In addition to the above, students will be asked to do the following (required):

  1. Sight read a basic swing chart with recording (both provided by the committee)
  2. Sight read on snare drum
  3. Briefly demonstrate ability to match pitches by humming or singing pitches (one note at a time)

  Students may also augment their audition (optional) by:

  1. Performing a xylophone or marimba solo
  2. Playing all of the major scales and arpeggios in 2 octaves on marimba or xylophone

Piano

• Audition Requirements

  There are two tracks in piano. The audition option you choose makes a potential impact on how many piano-related courses you will take as part of the program. The audition requirements for both tracks require two repertoire pieces of contrasting style. Both should be based on printed sheet music (please bring a copy with you to the audition). At least one should be classical music.

  Audition Option A:

  1. Two contrasting solos (min. 1 classical) at a Level 2 or higher - i.e. Works by Gurlitt, Kabalevsky, etc, or comparable to Bartok's First Term at the Piano or Mikrokosmos, Book 2.
  2. Prepare scales in all major keys, 1 octave, hands together

  If admitted via Audition Option A, to meet the Applied Piano requirement you would take Class Piano 3 and 4 your first year, and two years of applied (private) piano in your second and third years.

  OR

  Audition Option B:

  1. Two classical solos in contrasting styles comparable (or more difficult) to Clementi's Op. 36 Sonatinas, the Anna Magdalena Bach Notebook, or the Burgmuller Arabesque.
  2. All scales (major and harmonic minor) 2 octaves, hands together.

  If admitted via Audition Option B, to meet the Applied Piano requirement you would take two years of private piano lessons.

Piano

• Audition Requirements
  1. A work from the Baroque style period (i.e. a Two- or Three-Part Inversion or Prelude and Fugue by J.S. Bach, a dance movement or suite, etc.)
  2. A movement from a Classical sonata (i.e. Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert)
  3. A work from either the 19th, 20th, or 21st century
  4. 4-octave scales and arpeggios in all major and minor keys
  5. Sight reading

  Audition material must be performed from memory. Auditionees who submit videos must demonstrate abilities required by items 4 and 5 above upon their arrival to UNF.

Strings: Violin, Viola, Cello, and Bass

• Audition Requirements
  1. Two pieces of contrasting styles (eg. a work from J.S. Bach and a standard concerto)
  2. Sight reading

   

Voice

• Audition Requirements
  1. Three classical selections in contrasting styles. Stylistic preference should be given to standard art songs and/or arias from the baroque, classical, romantic, and 20th century classical repertoire. Musical Theater and folk song selections sung in English are also acceptable.
  2. At least one selection must be in a language other than English with linguistic preference given to Italian, German, French, Latin or Spanish. Classical selections in Portuguese, Russian, Czech, or Polish are also acceptable.
  3. The entire audition should be memorized and performed with live piano accompaniment. If you need an accompanist, one will be available at the audition. Please bring a copy of your music and $35 cash or check for the accompanist fee. You do not need to submit music in advance.
  4. Applicants will also be required to sing short sight-singing excerpts and vocal exercises led by the faculty.
  5. Applicants are required to wear appropriate and professional audition attire.

  
  

   

Woodwinds and Brass

• Audition Requirements
  1. A solo of appropriate difficulty OR two contrasting etudes. Auditions should display musical maturity through expression, technique and stylistic interpretation. Solos need not be memorized but should reflect a high degree of familiarity and careful preparation by the performer. The use of an accompanist is optional, but recommended. 
  2. Auditionees will be asked to perform major scales and arpeggios in various keys.
  3. Auditionees will be required to sight-read.
  4. Upon arrival to UNF, accepted auditionees who submitted recordings must demonstrate abilities required by items 2, 3 and 4 above.

  
  
  

   

Percussion

• Audition Requirements

  Repertoire should include keyboard percussion, snare drum, and timpani.

  1. Keyboard:
     • All 12 major scales 
     • 2 Mallet solo from Koshinski, Becker or G.H. Green Xylophone Solos or 2 mallet Bach suite movement
     • Representative/Suggested 4 mallet Marimba solos: Abe Michi or Wind in the Bamboo Groves, Burritt October Night or Preludes, Musser Etudes, Sammut Rotations, Tanaka Two Movements for Marimba, Rosauro Concerto for Marimba, Trevino Song Book or Strive to Be Happy
  2. Snare Drum
     • Cirone Portraits in Rhythm, Delecluse Etude no. 1 or 6 from Douze Etudes, Peters Intermediate or Advanced Snare Drum Studies
     • Wilcoxon The All American Drummer or Modern Swing Solos
  3. Timpani
     • Beck Sonata for Timpani, Firth The Solo Timpanist, Hochrainer Etudes for Timpani, Peters Etudes

  Sight reading required.