Auditioning for College - Do's and Don'ts

There's a long checklist of things to do when you're getting ready for a college audition. Let's start off with what you'll be required to perform. Most schools will have required repertoire or repertoire suggestions on their website. ALWAYS check the website for the requirements. It may seems obvious, but you'd be amazed how many people skip this very simple step. These are the people that end up surprised at the audition. If you can't find any requirements on the website, email someone in the music department to find out what to play. These are the people that end up surprised at the audition. If you do your homework, you won't run into any big surprises at the audition.

Depending on the school, you may have specific pieces that you'll be required to perform. If this is the case, make sure that you leave yourself plenty of time to prepare them. I'd recommend starting work on your pieces about a year ahead of time. Typically, these will either be a standard classical piece, or a jazz head. Most schools focus on either jazz or classical guitar performance. This can pose a lot of problems from students that have grown up performing rock, blues, or country repertoire. Jazz and Classical music both have very different feels than those aforementioned popular styles, as well as very different harmonic vocabularies (that's fancy talk for chord progressions). If you're unfamiliar with these styles, I'd suggest that you enlist the help of an experienced teacher. Also, make sure that you listen to as many recordings of the pieces as you can find. Listen first, practice second.

Ideally, try to schedule some lessons with the guitar teacher from the college where you'll be auditioning. It may cost a bit more than scheduling some lessons with your hometown guitar teacher, but it will give you a great shot at getting in, because they can show you exactly what they'd be looking for in an audition. I took this approach when I was auditioning at Berklee. I studied with a Berklee guitar professor for about a year before my audition, and I used one of his compositions as my audition piece. He wasn't actually on the panel on my audition day, but he was able to give me insights and great advice on passing my audition. We even did mock auditions during my lessons.

Some schools (like Berklee, for example), don't give you any specific or recommended pieces that you'll have to perform for your audition. If this is the case, pick repertoire that best showcases your musical ability. If you can nail Cliffs of Dover, go for it. If you're really comfortable with a SRV song, go for it. With a school like Berklee, they just want to hear what you do well. However, there aren't very many schools that take this approach, so make sure that you're aware of each school's requirements. You may have to prepare different sets of repertoire for different schools. Again, leave lots and lots of time to prepare your material.

Most schools will also have a supplemental area of the audition. Most of the time, this will include scales and arpeggios. The school will usually list the specific forms that you'll be responsible for on their website. If not, you should be able to at least perform your Major and Harmonic Minor scales, up to four sharps and four flats. The same goes for Major and Minor Arpeggios. If it's a jazz program, make those into Maj7, Min7, and Dom7 arpeggios. That seems to be the standard, but it'll vary from program to program. Always remember to perform your scales and arpeggios slower than you think you should. Students will often lose points in this category because they rush through and make a mistake or two that they wouldn't normally make. That concept goes for your prepared pieces as well. Play them through at a comfortably slow pace. If the panel wants to hear you play them faster, they might ask for that, but I doubt it.

Lastly, let's go over some basic etiquette. Always arrive early. I'd suggest getting there an hour before your audition time. This will give you time to find where you need to go, warm up, and tune. Make sure that your instrument is tuned before you go into the audition. The panel will usually have to see a lot of students in one day, and they won't want to waste time watching you tune up. Also, do your best to dress up. Look as professional as you possibly can. I'd avoid sneakers and jeans if possible. This will certainly help that first impression that the panel will get when you first enter the room.