Audition Information for Music BA: Performance Track

(Including Preprofessional Studies Minors in Music Education and Conducting)

General Information

Candidates applying to the Music BA Performance Track must apply for admission to the college as well as complete an audition for acceptance into the music major. If you have not yet completed your application to the college, please visit the Admissions Office. Students interested in Preprofessional Study in both Music Education and Conducting must first audition for the program in Music Performance. No audition is required for the Music BA tracks in Musicology; Jazz and American Music Studies; or Music Business, Recording, and Production.

We accept applicants in Voice and on the following Instruments: Piano, Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Saxophone, Bassoon, Trumpet, Horn, Trombone, Euphonium, Tuba, Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass, Guitar, or Percussion. 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). 

When to Audition

For fall admission, high school seniors and transfer students should audition before March 1. For spring admission, applicants should audition before November 1. Current Geneseo students may audition for entrance into the major in either the fall or spring semester and should contact Tammy Farrell at farrell@geneseo.edu  to set up an audition date.  

Auditions for incoming students may be submitted virtually via the link below or performed in person. In-person audition days are scheduled for February 10, February 24, and March 3, 2023. 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.

What to Prepare

For their audition, 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. 

Apply to Music BA: PerformancE Track