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Northern Illinois University

School of Music

Keyboard Audition Information

Organ

A polyphonic composition in three voices (e.g., Rheinberger trio, three-voice chorale setting of Dupre, etc).

A composition of the student's choice of comparable difficulty with Bach's Eight Little Preludes and Fugues.

Read at sight a four-part hymn setting:

  1. Soprano, alto, and tenor on one manual, bass in the pedal
  2. Soprano on one manual (right hand), alto and tenor on a second manual (left hand), bass in the pedal

A few short pedal exercises selected by the student (with particular attention to evenness rather than speed)

Piano

(all literature must be memorized)

All major, minor scales and arpeggios, four octaves, plus:

  1. A composition from the baroque literature such as a Bach two- or three-part invention, prelude and fugue, partita, suite, or toccata
  2. A sonata-allegro movement from the classical period -- Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Sonatas (excluding the Beethoven opus 49 and the Moonlight Sonata)
  3. A composition from the literature of the nineteenth or twentieth century
  4. Sight reading: the level of difficulty should be comparable to that of the audition literature chosen

Jazz Piano

Please prepare:

Three jazz tunes
     a. blues (tune and improvisation)
     b. solo piano ballad
     c. 32-bar tune like Satin Doll, A Train (tune and improvisation)

All major and minor scales and arpeggios

Be ready to read a jazz chord sheet.

Jazz pianists will also be required to play for the classical piano faculty.  Be prepared to play two contrasting pieces of your choice.  They need not be memorized.