Auditions

Entrance Audition Guidelines - Overview:

We encourage all interested candidates to schedule an audition/interview. We pride ourselves on providing a personalized and flexible education to highly motivated individuals regardless of your particular musical interests.

Auditions for Music Major Status: Following admission to the University, each prospective student must demonstrate musical proficiency in a percussion audition/interview for admittance to the Dana School of Music. An on-campus audition and interview is preferred, but a pre-recorded audition is possible pending Dr. Schaft's approval.

Audition for Music Minor Status - A brief audition and interview is required. Please contact Dr. Schaft for an appointment. Demonstrate whatever experience your possess on the instrument(s) you wish to study such as drumset, snare drum, keyboard percussion, timpani, hand drums.

Audition Appointments: The Dana School of Music hosts annual entrance audition dates for admission and scholarships. See the Dana School of Music website to make an appointment.

Audition and Scholarship Deadlines: See YSU Financial Aids for academic scholarships deadlines. For music scholarship consideration, you must complete your audition by the last published Dana audition day in late February. Auditions for entrance into the percussion studio may occur almost anytime throughout the year pending vacancies. Current majors are automatically re-considered for scholarship renewal and any scholarship funds that become available.

Audition Policies:

Please complete the Dana School of Music Audition Form to request an audition appointment.
You will be sent an audition appointment confirmation by the Cliff College Recruitment Coordinator.
Percussion audition/interview is 30-minutes in Dr. Schaft’s studio - 2234 Bliss Hall.
Each candidate is provided a warm-up room 30 minutes immediately beforehand. Please check-in at Dr. Schaft's office 30-minutes before your audition appointment. The audition and warm-up rooms are similarly equipped: Malletech 5-octave marimba, Malletech xylophone, Musser vibraphone, congas, drumset, timpani, and concert snare drum. Bring your own sticks/mallets and an extra copy of your music for the audition committee.
Our website contains directions to campus, directions to my office, and parking info Directions, Parking, Map.
Audition repertoire guidelines are included below.

Recorded Audition Policy:

Due date - last Saturday in February, 9:00AM Eastern Time. Send all your audition materials in a single email with the subject heading of "audition files" to Dr. Glenn Schaft, Director of Percussion Studies at geschaft@ysu.edu.
Your email should contain two attachments:
1. PDF of your résumé including: contact info, school related musical experience, other musical experience, academic and musical honors and awards, private percussion teacher names and how long you studied with each, and names of three references including title/position, phone, and email.
2. Unlisted YouTube Video file link containing your various musical excerpts edited into a single video file via a software editing program such as I-Movie or YouTube: begin your video with stating your name and desired music degree. Follow with various musical excerpts as described below in the Audition Repertoire section. Recordings should be a high quality audio/visual file labeled with name, repertoire title, composers, recording dates, and performers.

Performance: Choose approximately 15 minutes of music representing your highest achievements. Memorization is left to your discretion. Typically, your private percussion teacher will recommend suitable audition repertoire. If your private teacher has not made recommendations, we've listed some standard repertoire below.
Interview: we will review your resume, discuss your college goals and degree plans, career goals, and answer your questions. Your résumé should include: contact info, school related musical experience, other musical experience, academic and musical honors and awards, private percussion teacher names and how long you studied with each, and names of three references including their title/position, phone, and email. Either this can be submitted in print at the audition or emailed in-advance to Dr. Schaft (geschaft@ysu.edu) as a PDF attachment with the subject heading "audition files”.

Undergraduate Audition Repertoire for Percussion Major Status:

Please demonstrate whatever experience your possess whether snare drum, drumset, keyboard percussion, timpani, hand drums.
Please contact Dr. Schaft for private lessons or teacher referrals.
Prospective music education majors (BME) should ideally demonstrate a balanced audition repertoire including snare, keyboard, timpani, and drumset.
Prospective performance majors (BM) should demonstrate instrumental versatility and substantial achievement on at least one instrument.
Prospective majors in Jazz Studies (BMJ) or Music Recording (BMR) repertoire: similar to above with significant drumset or vibraphone emphasis.
Prospective jazz vibraphone majors (BMJ) should play a solo or etude and improvise over a blues and/or standard song form.
Prospective Composition majors (BMC) will perform a percussion audition and should submit a portfolio of scores and recordings of representative compositions (use CD format) to the composition faculty.

We also assess pitch-aural skills via:

Pitch matching — hum pitches (use syllable “la”) played for you on vibraphone
Sing, (solfege, scale degree numbers, or syllable “la”) major or natural minor scale and arpeggio one octave up and down

Suggested Solo or Etude Repertoire:

Snare drum

1. Orchestral style solo or etude: such as M. Peters-Advance SD Studies # 1, 3, 5 9, A. Cirone-Portraits In Rhythm # 3, 4, 14, 15.

2. Rudimental style solo selected from sources such as MENC State Class A Adjudicated Event Snare Solo, or similar repertoire such as Abel-2040's Sortie, Pratt-Drum Corps On Parade or My Friend Norman, Pratt-Conquering Legions of Rome or Cider Jug, Wanamaker-Hurricane or Bridgemen, Wilcoxon-Battin Em Out, trad. Downfall of Paris.

Keyboard - marimba, xylophone, or vibraphone

Two Octave Scales - chromatic scales, 12 major scales and arpeggios, 12 natural minor scales and arpeggios.
OMEA Class A or B Solo or etude of your choice — two or four mallets. Memorization is left to your discretion.

Drumset - Demonstrate timekeeping and soloing in various styles: rock, funk, shuffle, slow 12/8 blues, swing, jazz waltz, Brazilian-bossa nova or samba, Afro-Cuban-mambo, mozambique, or songo. Play 8-measure cycles; 4-bar time-feel groove and 4-bar solo, repeatedly.

Timpani - Two, three, or four drum solo or etude from: Peters – Fundamental Method for Timpani or similar timpani method books such as Goodman, Friese/Lepak, Carroll, Hochrainer, etc.

Hand Drums - A brief solo on congas, djembe, or frame drum.

Graduate Studies Audition Repertoire - Percussion Performance. Each graduate candidate is allotted a 60-minute audition/interview.

Snare Drum - two advanced solos or etudes of contrasting styles

Marimba - two-mallet solo and four-mallet solo

Orchestral Excerpts - two excerpts each for snare drum, xylophone, glockenspiel, and timpani

Drumset - various groove styles and soloing capabilities

Additional repertoire options: vibraphone solo, multiple percussion solo (submit pre-recorded file), hand drum solo

Audition outcomes — You will receive a Dana School of Music audition results notification letter (typically early March) about a week after the final published Dana entrance audition date. Our studio enrollment cap is generally 15-20 students.

Acceptance as a percussion major—we believe you are capable of successfully completing your desired degree program. Once accepted as a major, please see Advisement & Registration.
Denial of admission—four possible outcomes:
1. Long-term denial. You did not demonstrate the musical aptitude or achievement necessary to pass the first semester applied percussion course and are denied admission to major and minor level applied lessons and percussion ensemble. We believe that significant deficiencies exist and that you should not re-audition for at least one year or pending significant private study and achievement.
2. Waiting list. We believe you possess the musical aptitude and achievement necessary to pass the first semester applied percussion course and a re-audition is not necessary; we simply have no presently available studio openings. Notification of full-acceptance, pending studio vacancies, typically occurs by early May. Upon notification of acceptance, see advisement & registration.
3. Short-term or minor deficiencies. We recommend that you study privately to address minor deficiency(s) specified during your audition and re-audition in early-August before fall semester. We recommend this option if we believe you are capable of correcting short-term deficiencies before beginning YSU.
4. Minor level recommendation. We believe you possess sufficient musical aptitude to be accepted at the major level pending an re-audition, but require at least one semester of minor level applied percussion lessons MUAC 1500A) at YSU with our faculty to correct specified deficiencies. You will study with the percussion faculty and receive practice room access. You must perform a jury (audition for major status) during final exam week of that semester. Pending a passing lesson and jury grade (letter grades A-C), you will be admitted to major level status.

Theory. See info on theory at Dana. A theory placement exam is designed to place you in the appropriate theory class and is administered at the beginning of your first semester. In order to prepare for this exam and develop your written and aural theory skills:

General fundamentals (including written theory)
Flash cards available on the YSU flashcard page
Teoria
Leo Kraft's A New Approach to Ear Training is a huge volume of melodic and harmonic dictation exercises, with CDs and answers included. Great for studying on your own in a methodical, disciplined way.

Piano. As a music major, piano is considered your minor instrument, and four semesters of study or equivalent proficiency, is required in Bachelor of Music degrees. If you possess piano experience, please take the piano placement exam to determine if you might proficiency out of any of the required courses. If you do not possess previous classical piano training, enroll in the first course, MUAC 1581.