Wichita State University
Graduate Audition and Portfolio Information
Graduate Student Audition & Portfolio Information
Welcome to the School of Music at WSU, where we invite talented and passionate musicians to join our vibrant community of artists and scholars. The audition requirements for graduate students are listed below. We encourage prospective candidates to prepare a diverse repertoire showcasing their technical proficiency and expressive capabilities. We look forward to talking with each candidate more about WSU and witnessing the exceptional talent that they bring to the audition.
School of Music Materials
If you are applying for any of our Master of Music degrees, your supplemental materials must be submitted as a PDF, uploaded with your application. For media files, please include links to YouTube (or similar) service. Audio and video files cannot be uploaded directly to the application platform.
Contact your faculty member
We ask that Graduate Students contact their respective faculty member(s) to schedule the necessary steps to join us.
Required Supplemental Materials by Area
Woodwinds
Flute
Video recording or live audition:
- Two contrasting pieces from the flute repertoire. Movements from a large sonata or concerto are acceptable. Both standard and non-standard repertoire are welcome.
- Three contrasting orchestral excerpts of your choice.
Oboe
Video recording:
- Two movements of a standard concerto or sonata
- Either five orchestral excerpts or an unaccompanied solo piece by a living composer
Clarinet
Video recording:
- Two movements of a standard concerto or sonata
- Either five orchestral excerpts or an unaccompanied solo piece by a living composer
Bassoon
Video recording:
- Two movements of a standard concerto or sonata
- Either five orchestral excerpts or an unaccompanied solo piece by a living composer
Saxophone
Video recording:
- Two movements of a standard concerto or sonata
- Either five orchestral excerpts or an unaccompanied solo piece by a living composer
- In addition, if you are interested in jazz, you are welcome to perform repertoire from that genre as well
Brass
Horn
Video recording:
- Two movements of a standard concerto or sonata
- Either five orchestral excerpts or an unaccompanied solo piece by a living composer
Trumpet
Video recording:
- One solo work
- Three orchestral excerpts of the applicant’s choice
Trombone
Tenor Trombone Video recording:
- Two movements of a standard concerto or sonata
- Orchestral excerpts
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Tuba Mirum from Requiem
- Richard Wagner: Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walküre
- Gioachino Rossini: La Gazza Ladra
- Richard Strauss: Ein Heldenleben
- Two movements of a standard concerto or sonata
- Orchestra excerpts
- Richard Wagner: Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walküre
- Richard Strauss: Ein Heldenleben
- Joseph Haydn: The Creation
- Robert Schumann: Symphony No. 3
Euphonium & Tuba
Video recording:
- Two movements of a standard concerto or sonata
- Either three orchestral excerpts (tuba) or an Arban characteristic study (euphonium)
Percussion
Video recordings of both solo and orchestral repertoire. Solos (required):
-
- 4-mallet marimba, two examples
- Contemporary solo
- J.S. Bach solo (violin sonatas & partitas, lute suites, cello suites)
- Snare drum solo (ex. Mitchell Peters Advanced Snare Drum Studies or Hard Times, Jacques Delecluse Douze Études or Keiskleiriana)
- Timpani solo (ex. Hochrainer, Woud, Delecluse, Carter)
-
- Two timpani excerpts
- Two xylophone excerpts
- Two glockenspiel excerpts
- Two snare drum excerpts
-
- Drum set
- Multi-percussion
- Chamber music
- Latin or other non-Western percussion
- Steel pan
Piano (Performance and Pedagogy)
Video recording:
- Recent performance of roughly fifteen minutes. Include at least two pieces in contrasting style periods such as a Baroque dance movement or prelude and fugue, Classical sonata movement, Romantic era work, or a contemporary work.
- Repertoire list (PDF)
Organ
Video recording:
- Prelude and fugue by J.S. Bach
- Lyrical piece or movement from a work by a composer of the late-19th to early-20th c.
- Short piece by Louis-Nicolas Clérambault or François Couperin
- Major virtuosic piece or movement from a work by a composer of the 20th century
- List of repertoire studied in undergraduate studies (PDF)
Voice (including Opera Performance)
Video recording:
- Four recordings showing facility in English, Italian, German, and French repertoire of various styles
- Headshot and resumé (PDF)
- Statement of academic and career goals (PDF)
Strings
-
One movement from a major concerto
-
Two contrasting movements of unaccompanied Bach
-
One additional contrasting piece of repertoire
If you have any questions, please reach out to our faculty:
-
Dr. Timothy Jones, violin.
-
Dr. Ruben Balboa, viola/violin.
-
Dr. Leonid Shukaev, cello
-
Dr. Mark Foley, double bass/electric bass
Guitar
Prepare three jazz standards of varying tempos and styles, of which one should be
an unaccompanied ballad performed in a chord solo manner. All materials must be memorized,
and tune selection should reflect a graduate-level understanding of jazz repertoire.
Some examples of possible tune choices might be: Confirmation, Alone Together, Ceora, Stella by Starlight, Darn that Dream, Stablemates, It Could Happen to You, Wave. Follow the requirements above, and please ensure your video makes it clear you are
not reading music. If you have questions, please contact William Flynn, Associate Professor of Guitar and Area Coordinator, Jazz Studies.
Conducting
Video recording:
- Brief rehearsal and/or performance of the candidate’s conducting
If you have questions about the conducting program, please contact:
- Band - Dr. Timothy Shade, director of bands
- Choir - Dr. David MacDonald, graduate studies coordinator
- Orchestra - Dr. Mark Laycock, director of orchestras
Composition
Portfolio of scores and recordings of original works (not arrangements):
- Minimum of three and maximum of four works
- Works should be written or substantially revised within the last four years
- Works should be written for a variety of media (instruments and voices)
- Include both scores and recordings
- Scores (where applicable) should be professional, computer-engraved, and print-ready PDFs
- Recordings of all works are required; live performance or rehearsal recordings preferred, computer realizations acceptable. Recordings may be videos or audio-only.