Audition
Supplementary Application
All applicants will be required to audition as the final component of the application process.
For University of Melbourne Bachelor of Music graduates or potentially complete students, you will be asked to indicate your student status in the supplementary application, which will determine whether an audition is required.
The University of Melbourne and the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all participants, regardless of their physical, sensory, cognitive, or psychological abilities. You will be asked if you have any accessibility requirements for the live audition during the booking stage.
Preparing your recorded audition
- Applicants should prepare three pieces of music (25-30 minutes in total) demonstrating their skill on the instrument they wish to study.
- Select each piece from the Western Art Music repertoire (except for electric guitar and bass).
- Pieces should be of contrasting style, period, and composer (e.g. works from the Baroque, Romantic, and 20th-century repertoires).
- Your full audition must be video recorded in a single unedited take and uploaded as one file. Pauses between pieces or movements are expected.
- Instrumentalists and singers should perform at least part of the program with an accompanist, where appropriate.
- Classical piano, classical guitar, or percussion would normally audition unaccompanied.
- Piano applicants are expected to perform repertoire from memory, where it would be standard concert practice to do so.
- Percussion applicants should prepare the following. Duration of pieces can vary, please choose repertoire or studies/etudes that best showcase your skill.
- One piece for snare drum.
- One piece for timpani.
- One piece for a 2-mallet keyboard.
- A demonstration of 4-mallet keyboard performance (e.g. a performance, or short excerpt from, a 4-mallet piece).
- If access to all the required percussion instruments is not possible, please contact Brent Miller to discuss alternative arrangements.
We understand that in current circumstances, arranging a live accompanist and/or accessing certain recording equipment may be difficult. For applicants requiring accompaniment, you may organise an accompanist to provide backing tracks for your repertoire. Once you have received your backing tracks from an accompanist, you can use them to rehearse and then record your audition.
List of approved Conservatorium accompanists
It is not an expectation that you access or purchase additional recording equipment beyond a basic smartphone, iPad, or laptop/desktop device. For smartphones, many recent models already have very good microphones built in.
In some instances, the Selection Committee may require a second audition or discussion to take place.
How will I be assessed?
Applicants’ auditions will be assessed against the following criteria:
· Technical accuracy (in rhythm, tempo, intonation, articulation, loudness)
· Sound quality (tonal control and expressive range)
· Performance presence (overall coordination, poise, focus)
· Musical attention (awareness in listening, phrasing, style and expression)
All applicants will be ranked based on the above criteria, up to the capacity of places within the course