Think of the best music you’ve ever heard. Visualize starting each piece. Make sure you have breakfast. These are all tips from SFCM students on how to ace your audition.

In the coming weeks music students around the globe will take their first steps toward the performance of a lifetime, the SFCM Newsroom sat down with current students to get the story of their audition experience at the Conservatory and the advice they'd offer prospective students.

Kaz Hudson, Guitar (‘27)

“I just remember the faculty being nice and I felt really good about my playing so it was a good experience. The process afterwards, I remember my teacher was really communicative, and reached out a lot and that helped me make the decision at the end. To prepare, what I started doing is just thinking about all the times in my life where music was really impactful and just my best experiences on guitar, and I try to channel that feeling.” 

B. Schaubhut, Voice ('26)

“Coming into the audition space here, and walking in and seeing all these warm, smiling faces, who wanted me to succeed, that’s what set SFCM apart from other schools. Oftentimes, you go into an audition and the person in front of you just sang the same aria that you’re about to sing, and what the panel is looking for is not who sang that better, it’s who sold that more authentically.”

Zoey King, Clarinet (‘27)

“The faculty were just really nice, I feel like sometimes when I am playing in front of a panel it feels like they are looking for things that are wrong with me, that they can pick apart, but this panel felt like they were just trying to get to know me. My best advice for auditioning students would be to try to have fun with it and treat the whole process as a learning experience and not something that has to be perfect.”

Lilly Bogas, Voice (‘27)

“Just make sure that you present what you want to present, because I think that’s really important to anywhere you go, as much as they are auditioning you, you are also auditioning them and you have something to give here.”

Steven Fukui, Technology and Applied Composition (‘27)

“My advice for auditioning students would be, try to relax and make sure to show yourself. They aren't checking for just your skills, they also want to see you, the person behind the instrument, or the music. I would tell students who are experiencing stress or anxiety to just remember why you fell in love with music in the first place.” 

Jordan Ku, Trumpet (‘27)

“It went by really fast, it was surreal, I was really over-thinking the whole process and I was getting in my head like, 'Oh, what are they going to think of me?’ But really, if I could go back in time, I would tell myself to have fun, be yourself, and take risks.” 

Clara Abrahams, Voice (‘26)

“They are not looking for the perfect opera singer or the perfect violinist, they are looking for who you are and what you bring to the table, especially as a student. If you play a piece that you love, the audition panel is going to love it too.” 

Learn more about studying at SFCM.