Requirements

After submitting the application, applicants for the Brass program will be required to select a virtual performance interview time and submit unedited audiovisual recordings fulfilling the repertoire listed below. Movements from multi-movement works may be uploaded as separate video files. Recordings will be due three weeks before the selected virtual performance interview time. There is no prescreening requirement for brass applicants.

Repertoire does not need to be memorized.

Horn

Undergraduate

• Major, minor, and chromatic scales (Optional) - Updated January 4, 2021
• First movement, Mozart Concerto No. 2, 3, or 4
• First movement, Strauss Concerto No. 1
• Three contrasting orchestral excerpts (for example: Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5, Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, and Strauss' Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche)
• Sight-reading (if applicable)

Graduate and Postgraduate

• Strauss Concerto No. 1 or comparable work
• A 20th-century work for solo horn
• Orchestral excerpts
• Sight-reading (if applicable)

Trumpet

Undergraduate Freshmen

• Charlier Étude No. 2 (beginning to the 6/8 recap)
• One technical etude (Arban, Bitsch, Bousquet, Brandt, Charlier, etc)
• Orchestral excerpts:
  • Beethoven's Leonore Overture No. 3 Offstage call
  • Mussorgsky/Ravel's Pictures at an Exhibition Opening solo
• Optional: One additional excerpt from solo repertoire

Undergraduate Transfers

• Charlier Étude No. 2 (beginning to the 6/8 recap)
• One technical etude (Arban, Bitsch, Bousquet, Brandt, Charlier, etc)
• Orchestral excerpts:
  • Beethoven's Leonore Overture No. 3 Offstage call
  • Mussorgsky/Ravel's Pictures at an Exhibition Opening solo
  • Respighi's Pines of Rome Offstage solo
  • Mahler's Symphony No 5 Opening solo
  • Stravinksy's Petrouchka (1947 version) Ballerina Dance (1 bar before Reh. 134 to Reh. 139)
• Optional: One additional excerpt from solo repertoire

Graduate and Postgraduate

• Charlier Étude No. 2 (beginning to the 6/8 recap)
• One technical etude (Arban, Bitsch, Bousquet, Brandt, Charlier, etc)
• Orchestral excerpts:
  • Beethoven's Leonore Overture No. 3 Offstage call
  • Mussorgsky/Ravel's Pictures at an Exhibition Opening solo
  • Respighi's Pines of Rome Offstage solo
  • Mahler's Symphony No 5 Opening solo
  • Stravinksy's Petrouchka (1947 version) Ballerina Dance (1 bar before Reh. 134 to Reh. 139)
• Optional: One additional excerpt from solo repertoire

Trombone

Undergraduate

• One Solo of choice with contrasting sections
• Two contrasting études of choice (one lyrical and one technical)
• Major scales (We recommend 3 major scales of 2 or 3 octaves, with at least one in a sharp key. They may be played as eighth notes at a tempo of 120.)

Graduate and Postgraduate

• One of the following solos: Ballade by Frank Martin; Concertino, mvt. 1 by Ferdinand David; Sonate by Paul Hindemith
• Orchestral excerpts:
  • Mozart's "Tuba Mirum" from Requiem
  • Berlioz's Hungarian March (second trombone, Reh 3 to 2nd measure of Reh 5)
  • Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries (second trombone, B major section)
  • Saint-Saens' Symphony No. 3 (first trombone, mvt 1, Reh R to S)
  • Strauss' Ein Heldenleben (second trombone, Reh 60-66)
  • Mahler's Symphony No. 3 (first trombone, first and second solos)
  • Ravel's Bolero (Reh 10 solo)

Bass Trombone

Undergraduate

• Études from J. Rochut Melodious Études, Book 1
• One Solo of choice with contrasting sections
• Orchestral excerpts:
  • Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4
  • Brahms' Symphony No. 1
  • Schubert's Symphony in C Major
  • Berlioz's Hungarian March
• Sight-reading

Graduate and Postgraduate (repertoire does not need to be memorized)

• One solo (Sarabande from Bach Cello Suite No. 5, or piece of student’s choice) with contrasting sections
• Orchestral excerpts:
  • Haydn's The Creation, No. 26
  • Kodály's Háry János Suite, fourth movement
  • Rossini's Overture to La gazza ladra
  • Schumann's Symphony No. 3, fourth movement
  • Strauss's Ein Heldenleben
  • Wagner's Entrance of the Gods into Valhalla
  • Wagner's Overture to Tannhäuser

Tuba

SFCM will NOT be accepting tuba applications for Spring 2021.

Undergraduate

• One étude
• A legato study (such as Rochut)
• Solo literature
• Orchestral excerpts (transfer students only, incoming freshmen excluded)

Graduate and Postgraduate

• One solo (Vaughan Williams Concerto for Bass Tuba: first movement, or piece of student’s choice)
• Orchestral excerpts:
  • Berlioz's Rakóczy March
  • Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique
  • Hindemith's Symphonic Metamorphosis
  • Strauss' Till Eulenspiegel
  • Stravinsky's Petrushka
  • Wagner's Overture to Die Meistersinger or Ride of the Valkyries

Virtual Performance Interview Format

All Brass applicants are required to attend a Virtual Performance Interview following the submission of their Final Audition Recording. The Final Audition Recording will serve as the primary audition, with the Virtual Performance Interview supplementing it for the admission committee.

Applicants will be interviewed by the faculty panel using Zoom. There will be no live performance.

Virtual Performance Interview Dates

Horn

January 25
February 8

Trumpet

January 18
January 25

Trombone (Tenor and Bass)

January 18
January 25
February 15

Tuba

January 18
January 25
February 15