Who Should Audition?
- All students who plan to pursue a bachelor’s or master’s degree in music at Converse University.
- Students who would like to compete for talent-based music scholarships.
- Students who plan to double major in music and a liberal arts field.
- Students who plan to minor in music.
- Students interested in vocal or instrumental ensemble participation.
See upcoming audition dates and details.
Scheduling & Requirements
Audition Details
Scheduling an Audition
- Apply for admission to Converse University.
- Submit the Music Audition Application Form.
- Submit a letter of recommendation from your music teacher to the Office of Admissions.
- Attend a scheduled audition day. If you cannot audition in person on one of the designated dates, you may submit a recorded audition to Macey Dotson.
Recorded Auditions
Attend a scheduled audition day. If you cannot audition in person on one of the designated dates, you may submit a recorded audition. Please upload an unlisted video to YouTube and send the video link to Macey Dotson.
Financial Assistance
Music scholarships are awarded based on talent and academic achievement. All students auditioning for the Petrie School of Music as a music major, a double major with music and another field, music minor, or ensemble participation will be considered for music talent scholarships.
Audition Requirements
Please prepare your audition carefully, following the guidelines listed below. Vocalists must sing with piano accompaniment. Non-keyboard instrumentalists performing pieces written or arranged with piano accompaniment should audition with an accompanist.
Voice: Perform 3 selections from memory and with piano accompaniment.
- Art songs* or arias are preferred for at least two of the selections.
- Performance majors are encouraged to sing at least one piece in a non-English language (usually Italian, German, or French).
- The third selection may be a musical theatre piece.
*Art song refers to a piece by a classical composer, usually a poem set to music for solo voice with piano accompaniment, and intended for recital performance. Folk song arrangements and arrangements of spirituals by classical composers are also considered art songs for this purpose.
Piano: Two or three contrasting works from the Baroque, Classic, Romantic, Impressionist or 20th-century style periods. Suggested repertoire: Bach preludes and fugues or three-part inventions; first movement of a Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven sonata; or works by major composers of the Romantic and later style periods. Memorization is required.
Strings: Two contrasting works from the Baroque, Classic, Romantic or 20th-century style periods. A movement of a larger work may be considered as one composition. Memorization is required for string performance majors. Memorization is encouraged, but not required for all other string majors and minors.
Harp: Two works in contrasting styles from the standard repertoire. Orchestral excerpts are also acceptable. Memorization is not required.
Guitar: Two works in contrasting styles to be chosen from solo literature and/or etudes. Auditioning guitarists should demonstrate a degree of technical fluency and musical awareness appropriate to the level of audition literature. Memorization is not required.
Woodwinds and Brass: Two works (one lyrical and one technical) of contrasting style periods from the standard repertoire, including movements of sonatas or concerti, solo pieces and longer etudes. Memorization is not required.
Percussion: Performance in two of the following areas is required: snare drum (rudiments and a prepared solo or etude); timpani; marimba. Percussionists should provide their own sticks and mallets. Memorization is not required.
Music Therapy: A student auditioning as a Music Therapy major must complete TWO individual auditions:
- A voice or instrumental audition (on an instrument from one of the above categories) that satisfies all the listed requirements.
- An interview with the Coordinator of Music Therapy during which the student must sing a popular song from memorization, self-accompanying on either piano or guitar.
Composition or Contemporary Music (Media Applications): A student auditioning as a composition or contemporary music major must audition for the Musicology & Composition faculty. The audition consists of:
- A review of the student’s original compositions (which can be presented in written and/or recorded form and/or performed live) and
- An assessment of the student’s performance ability (choice of instrument and repertoire are at the student’s discretion).
Composition and Contemporary Music (Media Applications) students who wish to be considered for large ensemble participation and/or a performance scholarship should perform a second audition for the appropriate area faculty, using the repertoire guidelines outlined above.
Students are encouraged to audition in person. The Application for Admission to the Graduate Program and the Petrie School of Music Graduate Audition Application must be submitted to the Petrie School of Music at least two weeks prior to the proposed audition date.
If you are unable to attend an in-person audition date, you may submit a recorded audition. Please upload an unlisted video to YouTube and send the video link to Macey Dotson. All materials must be submitted at least two weeks prior to the audition review dates.
Instrumental Performance: The audition should be a minimum of twenty minutes in length and demonstrate at least two style periods. Memory is required in piano and strings.
Vocal Performance: The audition should be a minimum of twenty minutes and include repertoire representing the four major languages (English, French, Italian, German) art songs and arias with a minimum of four art songs and one aria. All selections should be performed from memory with the exception of an oratorio selection, which may be performed with the music.
Music Education: The audition should be a minimum of ten minutes in the applicant’s area of performance.
Entrance Examinations
Entering regular graduate students will be examined in music theory and music history. These examinations determine what courses may be taken at the graduate level and which prerequisite courses must be taken to remedy deficiencies.
Entering graduate vocal performance majors must pass an examination in Italian, French, German, and English lyric diction. If they do not pass, they must enroll for diction or audit the portion of diction courses in which they are deficient and receive a passing grade in those areas.
Non-keyboard majors who have not satisfied a keyboard requirement in their undergraduate program equivalent to that for a Converse Bachelor of Music degree will be required to fulfill the undergraduate piano requirement.
If, in the opinion of a majority of the Music Enrollment Committee, the audition or recommendations cast reasonable doubt on an applicant’s probable success in meeting the standards of the performance major at the graduate level, additional special requirements may be made. These requirements are described in detail in the Petrie School of Music Student Handbook.
Language Requirements
Remedial work in foreign languages may be required of graduate students if their undergraduate transcripts show a deficiency.
Vocal: One year each of French, German and Italian at the college level or the equivalent.
Instrumental: One year minimum at the college level of a language other than English or the equivalent.
People’s Republic of China
Prospective Converse Music Performance or Music Education international students who are citizens of and reside in the People’s Republic of China must complete their live audition for the Converse Music program at Nanjing Le Mi studios in China. Students who have had no previous contact whatsoever with Nanjing Le Mi studios may have the option to complete an independent, online audition with Converse or an in-person audition at Converse’s campus in Spartanburg, SC, USA.