Graduate Diploma in Music (Practical Music)

Audition requirements

• Applicants should prepare three pieces of music, no longer than 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)
• The audition panel may also ask to hear technical work (scales, arpeggios, etc.).
• Piano applicants: need to present an audition in one take of approximately 35 minutes duration which contains memorised solo repertoire of an advanced level.

*During COVID-19 restrictions performing with an accompanist is encouraged, but not mandatory, and only if you deem there to be no health risk. You may organise an accompanist of your choice for your audition. See the “Preparing your recorded audition” section below for further guidance.

Percussion applicants: If access to all the required percussion instruments is not possible, please contact Brent Miller brent.miller@unimelb.edu.au to discuss alternative arrangements.

Preparing your recorded audition

Please prepare your video-recorded audition as per the audition guidelines outlined above.

• Your full audition must be video recorded in a single unedited take and uploaded as one file. Pauses between pieces or movements are expected.
• Recordings must be made no earlier than 6 months prior to the application closing date.
• The Video file upload limit is 500MB. Uploading your video directly to the supplementary application is preferred, however, larger files can be submitted via YouTube or Vimeo.
• Ensure that the video you submit is not password-protected and check for playability to avoid corrupt content.

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.

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.

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