Admission & Audition Requirements

Students Entering from High School

In complying with the university admission policy and procedure the student is expected to use the following admission procedures:

1. Submit a completed application for admission with a non-refundable $20 application fee.
2. Submit ACT and/or SAT scores.
3. Submit an official transcript from high school.
4. Contact the Music Program for an audition and musicianship test.

All prospective students wishing to declare a major in music must successfully complete and pass an audition which will include the performance of a prepared piece representative of the student’s current musical and technical skills; scales (and/or rudiments for percussionists); sight reading; basic ear training; a music theory diagnostic; and an interview with the music faculty.

Students Transferring from another Accredited College or University

Students may be admitted on presentation of a satisfactory transcript from an accredited collegiate institution. The transcript shall be examined and evaluated by the SMSU Record Officer and the Music Program faculty. Transfer credit should be granted for courses taken at another institution only when the course involved and level of the transfer applicant’s achievement in it, enables him/her to take the remaining upper division course work without significant handicap.

In situations of transfer from MnSCU sister institutions, conditions of transfer will follow articulation agreements between schools.

Students must follow the SMSU transfer student application procedure outlined in “A Guide for Transfer Students” available at the Admission Office. Students wishing to transfer to SMSU must also successfully complete and pass an entrance audition as outlined above.

Auditions

The following are some guidelines for students preparing to audition for the SMSU Music Program. Auditions will allow students to be considered for entrance into the music program as well as for scholarships.

Audition Requirements for Woodwinds, Brass, and Strings

• Perform a prepared selection of your choice.  This could be a piece performed for Solo & Ensemble or excerpts from pieces that have been performed in ensembles.

Audition Requirements for Percussion

• Perform prepared selections or studies of your choice on snare drum and/or mallets.
• Perform basic rudiments on the snare drum.

Audition Requirements for Voice

• Be ready to sing a prepared song. The song may be an foreign language or English.  Examples of appropriate repertoire would include pieces for solo voice that are sung at Solo and Ensemble Contest.  An accompanist will be provided, if requested.
• Singers will be led through a series of vocalizes to demonstrate range, timbre, vocal flexibility and aural capacity.

Audition Requirements for Piano

1. Perform 2 major and 2 harmonic minor scales of at least 3 flats or sharps, 4 octaves, hands together, 2 octaves, contrary motion.
2. Perform 1 etude from either Cramer, Clementi, Czerny, Chopin, Liszt, Mendelssohn or from a serious 20th century composer (Bartok, Ligeti, Copland, Ives, Messiaen, etc.)
3. One piece memorized by either Bach, Mozart, Haydn, or Beethoven; sonata movements acceptable.
4. One piece from either a 19th or 20th century composer of at least 8 minutes in length, also memorized.

Click here to schedule an audition