Music Performance: Jazz and Commercial Guitar Audition Information
1 — Prepare two musical selections based on the following examples:
- A jazz, "Chord and Melody" type of arrangement for solo guitar.
- A single melodic line guitar solo based on a transcription of a jazz - fusion - pop or classical piece.
- A solo classical piece including any repertoire from Bach, Sor, Carcassi, Brouwer or any other comparable selection.
- A fingerstyle piece using alternate tuning or standard tuning like Michael Hedges or Leo Kottke compositions.
2 — Sightreading
Melodic and Harmonic sightreading will also be accessed during the audition. The desired level of proficiency needed to pass the sight reading portion of the audition is equivalent to studies 1 through 4 in the Melodic Rhythms book by William Levitt, Berklee Press - Hal Leonard Publishing
Chord vocabulary will be accessed during the audition. Prepare the following chord types in root-6 and root-5 positions:
Maj7, 7, min7, min7(b5) and dim6, min6, 13, 9 and min9
3 — Scales and Arpeggios
Scales and arpeggios will also be accessed during the audition. Prepare the following:
- Two octave major scales in three different positions
- Seven Greek modes (one position per mode)
- Two octave, seventh chord arpeggios including Major seventh, seventh, minor seventh, minor seventh flat five and diminished seventh
4 — BASS AUDITION GUIDELINES:
- Two pieces of varying styles. It would be great if one of the styles was jazz based - classical, funk, R&B and rock are fine.
- One octave arpeggios - Maj7 , dominant 7, minor 7, minor 7 b5 and fully diminished seventh.
- All seven Greek modes - one octave - any key.
- Sight reading - Recommended book: Electric Bass Position Studies by Roger Filiberto - Melbay.com
5 — Contact Paul Musso to schedule your audition:
There are two audition dates for the Fall 2010 Application process:
Friday, February 19, 2010 and Friday, March 26, 2010
To schedule an audition time on either of those days, please contact Paul Musso at paul.musso@ucdenver.edu or (303) 556-8873.
While students are encouraged to perform "live" auditions whenever possible, this is not always possible for out-of-state students. Out-of-state students who cannot attend a live audition, may submit a recorded audition. Recorded auditions must contain the type of repertoire listed above and be five to ten minutes in length. Recordings will not be returned. Please contact Paul Musso for further details.
Audition DEFERMENT:
An audition deferment is used for MIS (Music Industry Studies) students who choose the MIS curriculum track. This document is available from the administrative assistant at 303-556-2279 or download the form below:
cam.cudenver.edu/advising/forms/2008_09/Audition_Deferment_Form.pdf
Private Teacher Information
Private tutoring to prepare for the guitar audition is encouraged. The following teachers are available for private guitar instruction. Hourly fees vary among teachers.
- Dan Schwindt: 303-641-7740
- Drew Morell: 303-788-1824
- David Devine: 303-880-8682
- Michael Lancaster: 303-765-1245
To learn more about the opportunities awaiting you in the guitar program, please contact a College of Arts & Media advisor.
