Audition Information

Thank you for your interest in Kutztown University's Department of Music! Auditions are required for all applicants, except for the Bachelor of Arts in Music: Music Business.

• General Audition Requirements
  • Auditions are required for entry into all music degree programs, except for Bachelor of Arts in Music: Music Business.
  • Along with requirements on your voice/instrument (shown below), your audition also includes an interview with the music faculty. Please be prepared to share your musical background, career goals, areas of interest, and why you want to study music at Kutztown University. 
  • Pre-screen auditions are required for all voice applicants. Please submit your recordings at this link. 
  • If your program requires a pre-screen recording, the Department of Music will invite successful applicants to schedule an audition. If your program does not require a pre-screen recording, you may schedule your audition as you submit your KU application. 
  • All applicants must complete Placement Surveys
    • Upon KU admittance, a successful music audition, and deposit to KU, piano and theory placement surveys will be sent to students. These are used to place you in the proper courses during course registration. You will receive an email either upon your deposit to KU or during April 2024. Please submit these by May 1, 2024. 
• Audition Dates

  Please choose your audition date preference in your Kutztown University application (apply here). Three audition days will be available in-person for the 2023-24 audition season. 

  Live Audition Dates

  • Wednesday, November 1, 2023 (as part of VPA Open House) 
    • Voice pre-screen due by October 11
  • Wednesday, December 6, 2023, voice applicants only​
    • Voice pre-screen due by November 15
  • Saturday, January 27, 2024
    • Voice pre-screen due by January 5
  • Saturday, February 3, 2024
    • Voice pre-screen due by January 12

  Pre-screen is required for voice applicants only. Please click here to submit your pre-screen materials. Live audition will be scheduled after successful evaluation of your pre-screen materials. 

  Auditions will be held on the Kutztown University campus. An individual audition date or virtual audition is available upon request. Please select "Date Conflict" in your Kutztown University application, and our music faculty will contact you individually to schedule. Pease contact Dr. Razey at razey@kutztown.edu with scheduling questions. 

  *Students who wish to be considered for music scholarship must complete their application and audition by February 15, 2024. 

  Accompaniment will be provided for vocalists but is not required or provided for instrumental auditions.

• Visit Us: Prospective Music Student Events

  • VPA Open House, Wednesday, November 1, 2023

    • Music auditions may be scheduled during this event. Please designate this date in your Kutztown University application or email: razey@kutztown.edu 
    • The College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) Open House welcomes prospective students interested in the arts at KU. Prospective music students will have the opportunity to learn about all VPA arts programs of study, meet our current music students and faculty, tour campus, and visit classes and rehearsals. Registration information will be available in September 2023.

    Be a Golden Bear for a day!

    • Schedule a day to visit campus and shadow a current music student in their classes and rehearsals. Please email Dr. Razey to schedule: razey@kutztown.edu 

    Be our VIP guest at a concert of your choice at our Music Department Events. 

    • Please email Dr. Razey to schedule in advance: razey@kutztown.edu. 

     

• Clarinet

  • Two contrasting pieces or etudes 
  • Major scales in two octaves
  • Chromatic scale starting on low E
  • Sight reading 
• Commercial Music Audition Requirements

  Feel free to audition with pieces that best highlight your strengths without concern for whether or not they are highly technical or fit into a certain stylistic category or genre. The Department of Music has an interest in a wide variety of musical styles. We appreciate excellence in established musical genres like classical and jazz but also in other new and emerging styles. As an auditionee, you should play or sing the pieces that best show who you are.

  
  Prepared Piece
  When choosing your pieces, it is a good idea to contact your would-be applied teacher at Kutztown to ask for guidance. You can find a list of our applied faculty here.

  Among the types of pieces typically chosen by auditioning students include:

  • A standard or jazz tune (which may include blues and rhythm changes) with your own improvisation
  • A classical piece such as a sonata, etude, or art song
  • A tune that you composed, especially if your focus is commercial music (songwriting) or composition
  • A transcription of an innovative performer such as Charlie Parker or Esperanza Spaulding.
  • A tune from a popular artist or band
  • If you are a vocalist in the Commercial Music degree program, you may audition with two Musical Theatre/Broadway selections, or a Musical Theatre selection and a popular music selection. Both selections must be memorized and you must have a piano accompaniment for both pieces. We will provide an accompanist for your audition.

  Don't be limited by this list, it is only a suggestion.

  If you'd like to have accompaniment, feel free to use a recording that does not duplicate the part you are performing. Accompanists are provided for vocal auditions. Vocal auditions do require an accompaniment. If you need a different type of accompaniment, please contact us and we can make the appropriate arrangement.

  Performance
  You may be asked to demonstrate a technique particular to your performance area. For example, a drummer may be asked to demonstrate typical styles. For trumpet players, a demonstration of range and flexibility may be asked. For singers, the ability to project, etc.

• Guitar

  • Two contrasting pieces from any area of the guitar repertoire. For example, classical, jazz, rock, folk, blues, and fingerpicking pieces would be appropriate.
  • Major scales
  • Sight-reading

• Instrumentalists

  • Two contrasting pieces from the standard repertoire
  • Major scales
  • Sight-reading
• Percussion: Music Education and Performance Majors

  • Must audition on snare drum, timpani, and keyboard percussion (2 or 4 mallets)
  • Must demonstrate sight-reading ability and knowledge of scales
  • An audition on drumset is encouraged but not required
• Percussion: Commercial Music Majors

  • May audition on either drumset or orchestral percussion
  • Drumset auditions should demonstrate a variety of styles on drumset; Latin, rock, swing, bebop, funk, etc.
  • Knowledge of standard orchestral percussion is a plus, but not a requirement
  • If vibes are principal instrument, play a jazz standard melody with chords
  • If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Frank Kumor at 610-683-4548
• Piano

  Choose three pieces from the following style categories. All works must be performed from memory.

  • Baroque - i.e. Scarlatti, Bach (any Two or Three-Part Invention, Prelude, and Fugue, or any two movements of a Suite)
  • Classical - i.e. Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Hummel, Weber, Clementi (any movement of a Sonata)
  • Romantic/Post-Romantic - i.e. Mendelssohn, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, etc.
  • Impressionistic/Contemporary - i.e. Debussy, Ravel, Bartok, Prokofieff, Copland, Gershwin, etc.
  • Major and minor scales
  • Sight Reading
  • If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Maria Asteriadou at Asteriad@kutztown.edu. 

• Voice

  • Two contrasting pieces from the Classical, Jazz or Broadway repertoire
  • Required to use the Staff Accompanist
  • Required to fax (610-683-1506) or email (music@kutztown.edu) their music two weeks in advance of their audition date.
  • No recorded accompaniment will be permitted
  • Expected to be able to read music
  • Audition songs must be memorized