Music Performance Audition Information
Candidates for the Music BA with a focus in Performance must apply for admission to the college AND complete an audition for acceptance to the music major. If you have not yet completed your application to the college, please visit the Admissions Office. No audition is required for the Music BA with a focus in Musicology; Jazz and American Music Studies; or Music Business, Recording, and Production.
Auditions for incoming students may be submitted virtually via the link below or performed in person. In-person audition days are scheduled for February 11, February 25, and March 4, 2022. Please contact Tammy Farrell at farrell@geneseo.edu to request an audition date or with any questions regarding an online audition submission. Further information about in-person auditions will be forthcoming pending SUNY and state guidance regarding visitors on campus.
General Information
An audition is required for matriculation into the BA program in Music with a focus in Music Performance as well as the minor in Piano Pedagogy. No audition is required for Music BA students electing to focus in Musicology; Jazz and American Music Studies; or Music Business, Recording, and Production. A successful entrance audition places students with a studio teacher as well as in a departmental ensemble (note: prospective vocal performance majors must also attend a separate choral audition). Students may audition in Voice or on one of the following instruments: Piano, Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Saxophone, Bassoon, Trumpet, Horn, Trombone, Euphonium, Tuba, Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass, Guitar, or Percussion.
When to Audition
For a fall semester entrance to Geneseo, it is recommended that high school seniors and transfer students audition before March 1, and transfer students intending to transfer for the spring semester should audition before November 1. Matriculated students may audition for entrance into the major in either the fall or spring semester.
What to Prepare
For entrance into the major, students should prepare the following:
- Voice: Three contrasting, memorized art songs, including one in a foreign language, that demonstrate classical singing technique at NYSSMA Level VI. Geneseo will provide an accompanist. Applicants may also be requested to sight read; résumé. Vocal Performance majors must also attend a separate choral audition (see posted audition schedule).
- Piano: Three contrasting, memorized selections from different time periods, equivalent in difficulty to NYSSMA Level V or VI or Federation Level Very Difficult I. Applicants may also be requested to play scales and arpeggios as well as sight read; résumé.
- Brass, Strings, or Winds: Three contrasting selections equivalent in difficulty to NYSSMA Level V or VI. Applicants may also be requested to play scales and arpeggios as well as sight read; résumé.
- Guitar (classical): Major/minor scales in two octaves, with im, ma; One etude from Leo Brouwer's Easy Etudes 1-10; One etude from Segovia's Twenty Studies by Sor, or Carcasi's Op.60; and an additional work chosen by the candidate to demonstrate his/her present level of competency. Prospective students must audition with a classical (nylon) guitar.
- Percussion: Three selections equivalent in difficulty to NYSSMA Level VI, one on snare, one on timpani, one on a melodic instrument. Applicants may also be requested to tune timpani, play scales and arpeggios on a melodic instrument, and sight read; résumé.
- Minor in Piano Pedagogy: Three contrasting, memorized selections from different time periods, equivalent in difficulty to NYSSMA Level IV or V, Federation Level Moderately Difficult III. Applicants may also be requested to play scales and arpeggios, and sight read. Résumé.
For further information, please contact Tammy Farrell in the Department of Music & Musical Theatre office at farrell@geneseo.edu.