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Music

Jazz & Studio Music Audition Requirements

 

Undergraduate Jazz Saxophone

  • Perform two contrasting standard tunes, preferably from memory.

  • Auditioners should provide their own playalong recordings. Aebersold or LearnJazzStandards is preferred, but iReal is acceptable.

  • Auditioners will also be asked to sight-read.

  • Some general questions about chord and scale theory may be asked.

Undergraduate Performance or Music Education

  • All major scales (full range encouraged).

  • Perform approximately 8 minutes of music from standard repertoire showcasing a mix of lyrical and technical playing.

  • Etudes or excerpts from All-Region or All-State band are accepted but not encouraged.

Examples of standard repertoire include:

  • Demersseman, Jules – Fantasie sur un thème original

  • Françaix, Jean – Cinq Danses Exotiques

  • Handel, G. F. – Sonata No. 3, arr. Rascher

  • Ravel, Maurice – Pièce en forme de Habanera

  • Rueff, Jeanine – Chanson et Passepied

  • Eccles, Henry – Sonata in G Minor, arr. Rascher

  • Bozza, Eugène – Aria

  • Ibert, Jacques – Histoires

  • Ibert, Jacques – Aria

  • Schumann, Robert – Three Romances, arr. Hemke

  • Creston, Paul – Sonata

  • Heiden, Bernard – Sonata

  • Maurice, Paule – Tableaux de Provence

  • Milhaud, Darius – Scaramouche

  • Gurewuch, Jascha – Concerto

  • Tomasi, Henri – Ballade

  • Lantier, Pierre – Sicilienne

  • Quate, Amy – Light of Sothis

Undergraduate Music Education (Jazz Emphasis)

  • Prepare 5 minutes of standard classical literature displaying both technical prowess and lyricism

    • See Undergraduate Performance or Music Education requirements for examples of appropriate repertoire.

  • Prepare one medium-tempo jazz standard, preferably from memory.

  • Auditioners should provide their own playalong recordings. Aebersold or LearnJazzStandards is preferred, but iReal is acceptable.

MM, AD, and DMA

  • Because the graduate studio at the University of Memphis welcomes and intentionally attracts saxophonists with a wide spectrum of expertise and career goals, audition requirements are open-ended.

  • Applicants should prepare approximately 15 minutes of repertoire from any genre that best represents their strengths.

  • Applicants may also supplement their live audition with up to 5 minutes of submitted recordings.

If you want this styled for a website, audition packet PDF, or catalog layout next, I can knock that out fast.

  • All rhythm players will be expected to accompany from a chord chart or lead sheet in the styles of bop, Latin, fusion, or jazz/rock, rock, and pop.
  • Drummers
    • Perform four and twelve bar solos.
    • Demonstrate adequate knowledge of percussion rudiments.
    • Examples of the following drum set patterns at various tempi: Bebop and contemporary mainstream (using both sticks and brushes), jazz waltz, bossa nova and samba, salsa or Afro-Cuban fusion, funk, or jazz/rock ballads (brushes and sticks), R&B and shuffle, rock, and pop.
  • Graduate applicants will be asked questions pertaining to their knowledge of jazz chord and scale theory.
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