Audition Information

Apply to the University at Kutztown University's Admissions website, or the Common App website. Audition dates are selected in your application the the University. 

Choose an audition date on your Kutztown University application (apply here).

NOTE: Auditions are not required for those wishing to enter into the BA Music Business degree.

All audition dates are held in-person on the Kutztown University campus. If you have conflicts with the posted audition dates, please select "Date Conflict" in your Kutztown University application. Feel free to contact us via email for help with scheduling.

Contacts for each degree area are below: 

NOTE: Students who wish to be considered for music scholarship must complete their application and audition by February 15, 2025

Review audition information & requirements on this page and prepare for your audition. As always, please feel free to contact us with any questions! 

Apply for financial aid

Upon the review of your completed Kutztown application, you will receive an email confirmation of your audition time with audition day instructions. 

Please contact us with any questions or concerns.

The College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) Open House welcomes prospective students interested in the arts at KU. Prospective music students will have the opportunity to learn about all VPA arts programs of study, meet our current music students and faculty, tour the campus, and visit classes and rehearsals. Registration information will be available in September 2024. 

VPA Open House, Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Music auditions may be scheduled during this event. Please designate this date in your Kutztown University application. You may also contact us via email for help with scheduling. Contacts for each degree area are below:

Auditions are required for entry into all music degree programs, except for BA Music Business.

Along with specific requirements relating your voice type/instrument (shown on this page below), your audition also includes an interview with the music faculty. Please be prepared to share your musical background, career goals, areas of interest, and why you want to study music at Kutztown University. 

• ALL applicants other than BA Music Business must complete Placement Surveys for piano and music theory
  • Upon KU admittance, a successful music audition, and deposit to KU, piano and theory placement surveys will be sent to students via email
  • You will receive the email either upon your deposit to KU or during the month of April, 2025
  • We ask that you submit the surveys by May 1, 2025 

NOTE: Piano & Theory surveys are simply used to place you in the proper courses during course registration and have no impact on your acceptance

In general, and regardless of style/genre, you should be prepared to perform something from the standard/mainstream repertoire that best displays tone, technique, and musicianship/expression. Scales & sight-reading may be required.

• Two contrasting pieces or etudes 
• Major scales in two octaves
• Chromatic scale starting on low E
• Sight reading 

Feel free to audition with pieces that best highlight your strengths without concern for whether or not they are highly technical or fit into a certain stylistic category or genre. The Department of Music has an interest in a wide variety of musical styles. We appreciate excellence in established musical genres like classical and jazz but also in other new and emerging styles. As an auditionee, you should play or sing the pieces that best show who you are.

Prepared Piece
When choosing your pieces, it is a good idea to contact your would-be applied teacher at Kutztown to ask for guidance. You can find a list of our applied faculty here.

Among the types of pieces typically chosen by auditioning students include:

• A standard or jazz tune (which may include blues and rhythm changes) with your own improvisation
• A classical piece such as a sonata, etude, or art song
• A tune that you composed, especially if your focus is commercial music (songwriting) or composition
• A transcription of an innovative performer such as Charlie Parker or Esperanza Spaulding.
• A tune from a popular artist or band
• If you are a vocalist in the Commercial Music Studies degree program, you may audition with two contrasting Musical Theatre/Broadway selections, or a Musical Theatre selection and a popular music selection and/or a Jazz Standard. Both selections must be memorized and you must have a piano accompaniment for both pieces. We will provide an accompanist for your audition or you may bring your own.
• Don't be limited by this list, it is only a suggestion!

NOTES:

• If you'd like to have accompaniment, feel free to use a recording that does not duplicate the part you are performing (like a Karaoke version)
• Vocal auditions do require an accompaniment and accompanists are provided for them. You may also bring your own accompanist. If you need a different type of accompaniment, please contact us and we can make the appropriate arrangement.

Performance
You may be asked to demonstrate a technique particular to your performance area. For example, a drummer may be asked to demonstrate typical styles. For trumpet players, a demonstration of range and flexibility may be asked. For singers, the ability to project, etc.

• Two contrasting pieces from any area of the guitar repertoire. For example, classical, jazz, rock, folk, blues, and fingerpicking pieces would be appropriate.
• Major scales
• Sight-reading

Music Education & Music Performance Majors (Non-Commercial)

• Must audition on snare drum, timpani, and keyboard percussion (2 or 4 mallets)
• Must demonstrate sight-reading ability and knowledge of scales
• An audition on drumset is encouraged but not required

Commercial Music Studies Majors (Non-Classical)

• May audition on either drumset or orchestral percussion
• Drumset auditions should demonstrate a variety of styles on drumset; Latin, rock, swing, bebop, funk, etc.
• Knowledge of standard orchestral percussion is a plus, but not a requirement
• If vibes are principal instrument, play a jazz standard melody with chords
• If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Kevin Kjos or Dr. Todd Walker 

Choose three pieces from the following style categories. All works must be performed from memory.

• Baroque - i.e. Scarlatti, Bach (any Two or Three-Part Invention, Prelude, and Fugue, or any two movements of a Suite)
• Classical - i.e. Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Hummel, Weber, Clementi (any movement of a Sonata)
• Romantic/Post-Romantic - i.e. Mendelssohn, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, etc.
• Impressionistic/Contemporary - i.e. Debussy, Ravel, Bartok, Prokofieff, Copland, Gershwin, etc.
• Major and minor scales
• Sight Reading
• If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Maria Asteriadou at Asteriad@kutztown.edu. 

• Two contrasting pieces from the Classical, Jazz, or Broadway repertoire
• An accompanist is required - either the KU staff accompanist or your own
• Sheet music is required to be sent via email (music@kutztown.edu) no later than two weeks in advance of the audition date
• No recorded accompaniment will be permitted
• Expected to be able to read music
• Audition songs must be memorized