Natalie L. Haslam College of Music

Graduate Admission Requirements by Degree Program

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The process for admission to graduate study varies by area. Many areas require auditions and/or interviews. Below are the guidelines for the various programs:

Brass Instruments

Horn

  • One complete work from the horn repertoire Can be chosen from, but not limited to:
    • Jean-Michel Defaye, Alpha
    • Frigyes Hidas, Concerto
    • Paul Hindemith, Sonata in F or E-flat
    • W.A. Mozart, Concerto No. 2, 3, or 4
    • Vincent Persichetti, Parable VIII for Solo Horn
    • William Grant Still, Songs for horn and piano
    • One complete work composed post 1950
  • Repertoire can be chosen from, but is not limited to:
    • Amparo Edo Biol, Sweet Song
    • Alice Gomez, La Calavera
    • Wolfgang Plagge, Monoceros
    • Dante Yenque, Tanguito
  • One etude demonstrating style, technique, and lyricism Etude can be chosen from, but is not limited to:
    • Gallay, 40 Preludes
    • Maxime-Alphonse, Volumes 3-5
    • Verne Reynolds, 48 Etudes
  • Three contrasting orchestral excerpts
    • Two orchestral excerpts of your choice.
    • One excerpt must be Amy Beach, Symphony in E Minor, Op. 32 “Gaelic”
  • Mvt. 2, mm. 1-4 (available on IMSLP)

If you have any questions about the audition or audition repertoire, please feel free to contact Professor Johnson

Trumpet

  • One movement of a solo from the standard repertoire
    Suggested Repertoire:
    • Haydn, Trumpet Concerto, 1st or 3rd movement (on Eb Trumpet)
    • Hummel, Trumpet Concerto, 1st or 3rd movement (on Eb Trumpet)
    • A movement from any Baroque works on piccolo trumpet
    • Tomasi, Trumpet Concerto
    • Böhme, Trumpet Concerto, 1st or 3rd movement
    • Ewazen, Trumpet Sonata, 1st or 3rd movement
    • Kennan, Sonata, 1st Mov
    • Hindemith, Sonata 1st movement
    • Arban, any of the 12 Solos, Fantasies and Variations (found at the end of method)
  • Two contrasting etudes demonstrating technical and lyrical playing
    Suggested Repertoire:
    • Voisin, 11 Studies
    • Walter Smith, Top Tones for the Trumpeter
    • Bitsch, 20 Études 
    • Brandt, 34 Orchestral Etudes
    • Arban, 14 Characteristic Studies
    • Charlier, 36 Études Transcendantes
    • Bohme, 24 Melodic Etudes
  • Three or more contrasting orchestral excerpts.
    Suggested Repertoire:
    • Mussorgsky/Ravel, Pictures at an Exhibition, Promenade
    • Stravinsky, Petrushka, ballerina’s dance 
    • Respigui, Pines of Rome, off stage solo
    • Mahler, Symphony number 5, opening
    • Strauss, Don Juan, lyrical passage
  • A musicology paper from an undergraduate or graduate course or a sample of your writing abilities on a music related topic. 
  • Possible sight reading

If you have any questions about the audition or audition repertoire, please feel free to contact Professor Arthur Zanin.

Trombone

Please prepare a 15 minute audition of contrasting selections from the solo, method/etude, and standard orchestral repertoire. Be prepared for major and minor scales as well as potential sight-reading.

Euphonium

  • Two contrasting movements from the standard advanced solo repertoire, demonstrating technical and lyrical playing.
  • Any complete etude from Bordogni, arr. Rochut, Melodious Etudes, book 2
  • Several standard band audition excerpts
  • All major and minor scales
  • Sight Reading
  • Preliminary recorded round for graduate euphonium applicants, to be uploaded with your application in Acceptd: Jacob “Fantasia”, complete. Piano accompaniment preferred but not required. Preliminary recording deadline: December 31.

If you have any questions about the audition or audition repertoire, please feel free to contact Professor Lapins.

Tuba

  • Two contrasting movements from the standard advanced solo repertoire, demonstrating technical and lyrical playing. At least one solo piece should be performed on F or E-flat tuba.  
  • Any complete etude from Snedecor Low Etudes performed on C tuba. 
  • Several standard orchestra and band audition excerpts 
  • All major and minor scales 
  • Sight Reading
  • Preliminary recorded round for graduate tuba applicants, to be uploaded with your application in Acceptd: Any Snedecor Low Etude, Book 1 or Book 2 and Vaughan Williams “Concerto for Tuba”, Mvt. 1. Piano accompaniment preferred but not required. Preliminary recording deadline: December 31.

If you have any questions about the audition or audition repertoire, please feel free to contact Professor Lapins.

Collaborative Piano

To discuss potential pre-screening or audition options, please contact Dr. Kevin Class, Professor of Collaborative Piano, at [email protected].

While there may be some flexibility allowed in the audition repertoire, the standard selections are as follows:

  • A solo piano work (memorization preferred)
  • A complete Mozart or Beethoven violin sonata
  • Faure: Notre amour
  • Mozart: Porgi amor (from Le nozze di Figaro)
  • Puccini: Il mio babbino caro (from Gianni Schicchi)
  • Rossini: Largo al factotum (from Il barbiere di Siviglia)
  • Joseph Marx or Richard Strauss: any Lied

Composition

Students applying for graduate study in composition theory should:

  • Submit three compositions with scores (if relevant) and recordings (midi files acceptable) that are representative of your work. You are encouraged Include pieces that show your ability to write for diverse instrumentation, but make sure to submit what you feel is your strongest work.
  • Interview with members of the TCT faculty.

GTA Applicants:

  • GTA applicants must submit a 10-minute teaching demonstration video (approximately) on melodic dictation for a beginning aural skills class. You do not have to finish the whole example.
  • If you can get a friend or two to sit in as mock students in the video this might help but it is not required.
  • We encourage you to include some singing in the teaching. Use any technology and techniques you like; we appreciate any creative teaching ideas with technology.

Conducting – Choral

Choral Conducting applicants should:

  • Submit a pre-screening video of both rehearsal and performance (if possible) into your Accept’d application.
  • After a review of all applicants for admission, a select group of auditionees will be invited to campus to audition and interview with the Director of Choral Activities.

Conducting – Orchestral

Orchestral Conducting applicants should:

  • Contact James Fellenbaum, Director of Orchestras to discuss requirements for pre-screening videos, to include both performance, and rehearsal, if possible.
  • Submit pre-screening videos via online links by December 1
  • Once you pass the pre-screening, your audition and interview will be scheduled

Conducting – Wind

Wind Conducting Applicants should contact Professor John Zastoupil (Director of Wind Studies) for pre-screening and application information.

Double Bass

Classical

  • Two contrasting movements of standard bass concertos or comparable works from the standard double bass solo repertoire.
  • One orchestral excerpt from the standard orchestral repertoire.

Jazz

  • Three prepared tunes to be memorized demonstrating contrasting tempos and feel.  Candidates should be prepared to play melodies, walk two or three choruses and solo.  A transcription may be substituted for one of these tunes.

Musicology

For admission to graduate study in musicology, students should:

  • Interview with Musicology Faculty
  • Submit scores for the general portion of the GRE (optional)

This degree program does NOT require a performance audition.

Organ

  • One free work by Johann Sebastian Bach (a prelude and fugue or one or more movements from a trio sonata)
  • A Romantic work in a contrasting style
  • A work by a 20th/21st century composer
  • A hymn, with an introduction and 2 stanzas, as if accompanying a congregation
  • Sight-Read an unfamiliar hymn or chorale from a standard hymnal

Percussion

Live Auditions

If invited to an on-campus audition, MM candidates should prepare an audition of 20-35 minutes in length. Each candidate is required to perform on a minimum of four (4) instrumental areas as listed below. Repertoire from the pre-screening is acceptable, as is other works not previously submitted.

Required Areas

Solo Keyboard
  • Performance(s) of significant solo repertoire on the marimba and/or vibraphone, which must include at least one 4-mallet selection. Works might include, but are not restricted to those composed by J.S. Bach, Roger Reynolds, Steven Mackey, Paul Lansky, Jacob Druckman, Franco Donatoni, Philippe Manoury, or equivalent.
  • Sight Reading on 2-mallet marimba.
Snare Drum
  • A solo or etude by Jacques Delecluse, Joseph Tompkins, or equivalent.
  • Sight Reading in concert style.
Solo Percussion
  • Performance(s) of significant solo repertoire. Works might include, but are not restricted to, those composed by Iannis Xenakis, Frederic Rzewski, Vinko Globokar, Georges Aperghis, John Cage, Brian Ferneyhough, Michael Gordon, David Lang, or equivalent.

Choice Areas

Timpani
  • A solo or etude to demonstrate musical tone by Delecluse, Hochrainer, Carter, or equivalent.
  • Ability to tune multiple drums from one given pitch.
World Percussion
  • A prepared solo or improvisation on frame drums, congas, tabla, or other non-Western instrument.
Drumset
  • A prepared solo, play-along, or improvisation in a variety of styles.

Various Orchestral Excerpts

  • A variety of orchestral/band excerpts on keyboard (glockenspiel and/or xylophone), snare drum, timpani, and accessory instruments. Minimum 7 excerpts displaying as much variety as possible.

Important Notes

  • An accompanist is neither required nor provided; candidates may bring an accompanist at their own discretion but should notify Dr. Bliss ahead of time.
  • Candidates should choose repertoire in each area that best highlights their performance abilities and artistic interests.
  • Students choosing to audition in the solo percussion or world percussion areas should communicate ahead of time via email to ensure that the appropriate instruments are available. All students are welcome to bring small personal instruments such as snare drums, tambourines, or specific items needed for solo percussion or world percussion repertoire.
  • Repertoire requiring electronics of any kind is welcome, but should also be discussed/cleared with Dr. Bliss prior to auditioning.
  • Playing on the bowls of the timpani will not be permitted.

Interview and Graduate Assistantship Requirements

  • Following the performance audition, candidates will also take part in an interview with the percussion faculty and should be prepared to formally discuss the repertoire chosen on the recital program and their goals for pursuing a MM degree.
  • Candidates who are interested in being considered for an assistantship may also be asked to teach a private lesson and are encouraged to include provide teaching footage via URL links in their application.

Piano (Performance)

Piano (Performance) applicants should:

  • Submit a pre-screening video that includes three pieces in contrasting styles, one of which must be a movement from a Classical sonata.
  • Play by memory a minimum of three works representing three different stylistic periods. One work of the three must be a complete classical sonata.

String Instruments

Graduate violin performance majors

  • Two contrasting movements (or Fugue or Chaconne) of unaccompanied J.S. Bach sonata or partita
  • One movement of any concerto
  • Any piece or caprice of candidate’s choice

Memorization is encouraged, but optional

Graduate Viola majors

  • Excerpts from a recital program at least 30 minutes in length, including movements from no fewer than three contrasting compositions.

Graduate Cello majors

  • Excerpts from a recital program at least 30 minutes in length, including movements from no fewer than three contrasting compositions.

Studio Music & Jazz

A live audition is expected prior to admission in the MM in Jazz Studies program. Students auditioning for the Master of Music in Jazz Studies are expected to have completed an undergraduate music degree comparable to the University of Tennessee Bachelors Degree in Studio Music and Jazz. The audition will consist of the student performing 2 or 3 compositions of their choice WITH the jazz faculty. Please prepare several memorized tunes from the jazz repertoire to perform with the jazz faculty.

Theory

Students applying for graduate study in music theory should:

  • Submit copies of two papers that demonstrate your writing skills. These papers can be any type of paper, preferably on a musical topic, and preferably related to music theory.
  • Interview with members of the TCT faculty.

GTA Applicants:

  • Submit a 10-minute teaching demonstration video (approximately) on melodic dictation for a beginning aural skills class. You do not have to finish the whole example.
  • If you can get a friend or two to sit in as mock students in the video this might help but it is not required.
  • We encourage you to include some singing in the teaching. Use any technology and techniques you like; we appreciate any creative teaching ideas with technology.

Voice

Vocal Performance/Knoxville Opera Studio applicants should:

  • Submit a pre-screening, through Accept’d, of 3 songs (a combination of arias and art songs) in 3 different languages (Italian, French, German, or English). 
  • Pre-screening submissions will also be used by the faculty committee in determining final admission decisions.

Woodwind Instruments

Woodwind players auditioning for acceptance into the music program at UT will be expected to play:

  • any/all major scales
  • two contrasting selections (see below)

Flute

  • All Major, Minor (Harmonic and Melodic) scales, Chromatic Scales and Major Thirds, performed with different articulations.
  • Mozart: Concerto No. 1 in G major, KV 313 or Concerto No.2 in D Major, KV 314. Mvt. I and II (with cadenza)
  • Two contrasting selections, including movements of sonatas, concertos or solo works. One of your selections must be by an underrepresented composer (Female composer, BIPOC composer, Latin-American/Latinx composer, Asian/Asian-American composer, LGBTQ+ composer, etc.). Selections should showcase contrasting styles, including baroque, modern and/or contemporary repertoire.
    • Underrepresented works could include but are not limited to compositions by: Katherine Hoover (Kokopeli, Winter Spirits), Valerie Coleman (Danza de la Mariposa, Matisseries, Wish Sonatine), Anna Von di Venezia (Sonatas), Adina Izarra (El Amolador), Raimundo Pineda (El Bachiano, Concertos), , Alberto Ginastera (Tango Etudes, History of Tango), Adolphus Hailstork (Sonatina, Yuwah, Flute Set, Pied Piper of Harlem), Allison Loggins-Hull (Homeland), Tania León (Alma), Marco Granados (La Bella y el Terco, Hibbie-Jibbies), William Grant Still (Two Cameos), Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (Sonata, Sonata a la baroque), Kazuo Fukushima (Mei), Toru Takemitsu (Air).
    • If interested in finding more about these and other works from underrepresented composers, please visit the resources page from the National Flute Association
  • Sight reading

For questions regarding repertoire selection and accessibility, don’t hesitate to contact Professor Castillo.

Oboe

  • Chromatic scale, all major/minor scales.
  • Two contrasting selections:
    • Concertos by Mozart, Haydn, Vaugh Williams, or Strauss.
    • Contrasting studies from the Barret Oboe Method or Ferling Studies.

Clarinet

  • Two contrasting solos from the standard clarinet repertoire – i.e. Mozart, Copland, Brahms, Rigoletto, Debussy, Stravinsky, Martino, etc.
  • Two contrasting Etudes from the Rose Studies, Cavallini or Baermann studies
  • Major scales and 3 forms of minor scales
  • An interview discussing the student’s goals for graduate school and career goals
  • Sight-Reading and rhythm assessment

Performance Majors should select 5 orchestra excerpts from the standard audition selections.
An informal interview follows the audition. Students are asked about their musical experiences and career aspirations. 
Instructor will meet with the student and parent(s) following the audition.
It is recommended to contact the Instructor prior to the audition to set up a free lesson.

Bassoon

  • All major/minor scales
  • Two contrasting selections:
    • Concertos of: Mozart, Weber, or Vivaldi
    • Sonatas of: Telemann, Besozzi, Fasch, Marcello, Devienne, Hindemith, or Saint-Saëns
    • Etudes of: Weissenborn or Milde
    • Showpieces of: Tansman, Bordeaux, Senaille, Bozza, Weber, Pierne

Saxophone

  • Two contrasting works from the standard saxophone literature that showcase different styles. Suggested pieces include:
    • Ibert Concertino da Camera, Desenclos Prélude, Cadence, et Finale, Albright Sonata, Dahl Concerto, Denisov Sonata, Larsson Konsert, op. 14, Swerts Klonos Noda Mai or Improvisation, Scelsi Tre Pezzi, Berio Sequenza, Yoshimatsu Fuzzy Bird Sonata, Lauba Neuf Etudes
    • Other works of similar scope and difficulty
  • Chromatic scale
  • Major and minor scales extended to the full range of the instrument
  • Sight-reading