Regarding College Audition Repetoire

[mitenka]

Hello there, I'm a prospective piano student that's a little unsure about college requirements for auditions. Currently, I am planning to apply to schools such as BoCo, Ithaca, Manhattan, CIM, Westchester, and NEC. I am still trying to create a reasonable list of schools to apply to. If there are any suggestions or criticisms to my list, please let me know! Anyway, I already contacted the schools that I'm unsure about their repertoire and am currently waiting to hear back from them. I just thought it would be a good idea to get other insight from other people who may experienced from college auditions as well. Anyway, here is a general list of requirements that I see appear frequently.

Baroque—a prelude and fugue from the Bach Well-Tempered Clavier or an equivalent Baroque work
Classical—a complete sonata in traditional form, or comparable work
Romantic—a major work of the applicant’s choice
Fast Etude
Complete work from the 20th or 21st centuries

Here are my ideas for repertoire. My piano teacher also helped me pick which pieces I wanted to play, but advise me to get input from the colleges as well.

Baroque— Prelude & Fugue No. 6 In D Minor, BWV 851 (Bach, Book I)
Classical— Sonata In E-Flat Major, No. 59, Job. XVI:49 (Haydn)
Romantic— Chopin Grand Valse Brillante No. 1 E-Flat Major, Rachmaninoff Prelude C-Sharp Minor ()
Etude— Moszkowski Etude Virtuoso in E Major or G Minor
20th Century— Shostakovich Fantastic Danses

My primary concerns are the Romantic piece, Etude, and 20th century piece. For the Romantic and 20th Century, most colleges ask for "major work" or "substantial" work from those eras. I'm not exactly sure what that means. Would those pieces be considered "major" or "substantial" enough. Does it need to be longer in length or anything of the like?

For the etude, is Moszkowki generally an acceptable composer to play? Also, does it matter if I choose popular songs to play? I'm sure the faculty most likely are familiar with my choices, but is popularity any reason to not choose a song? If you have any suggestions for the list I'm thinking of, please let me know! Any feedback would be appreciated.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

You're fine.

I was in your exact same shoes around this time of year.  I was reading everything and I was like, 'what the heck is a 'substantial' piece?!  Well they just use that word to sound cool, it doesn't reall mean anything.  

Never mind, almost fine.

I think you should do a harder 20th century and romantic piece.  You're auditioning for NEC man.  And the C# minor prelude is OUTRAGEOUSLY overplayed.

But above all, it's about how you play, not what you play.

[mitenka]

Thank you very much for the input! Yeah, I was a little unsure about NEC and the pieces I'm about to play to fulfill the Romantic and 20th century requirement. To be honest, NEC is a bit of a stretch for me. I was thinking of giving it a shot, but I'm still extremely uncertain about it. However, I guess my main concern is if the repertoire I have now okay with other colleges. I'm still working on the list so does anyone have any other college recommendations that are worth looking at?

[rachmaninoff_forever]

I'm still working on the list so does anyone have any other college recommendations that are worth looking at?

*cough* University of Illinois *cough* at Urbana Champaign *cough* *cough*

Whaaaaat?  Who said that?!

Indiana University at Bloomington is pretty good.

Hmmmm, who else... 

Depaul!

You should also try some in state universities so you get the instate tuition benefits.  Because a lot of those schools are outrageously expensive.  For instance NEC.  First off, it's like impossible to get in to, and even if you to get in, they only give money to like five people.  Manhattan is also a broke school too so they don't like to hand out money.

[lelle]

I think playing less popular pieces can be a good thing. If the examiners get to hear a hundred different Moonlight Sonatas for example it will get harder and harder for them to listen regardless of how good the playing is. They're only human after all.

[emill]

I was a little unsure about NEC and the pieces I'm about to play to fulfill the Romantic and 20th century requirement. To be honest, NEC is a bit of a stretch for me. I was thinking of giving it a shot, but I'm still extremely uncertain about it.

I do not know if this will help but by all means give it a shot!!!!   the experience is irreplaceable and will strengthen your mettle.  Playing before a distinguished panel will be nerve-wracking to many, but will initiate you to such pressures which surely you will be facing repeatedly in the future.  The experience of preparing for a top-notch audition will only redound to ones benefit.

My son just recently got invited to audition in 9 schools in the US.  I was advised by many in our country to skip 2 schools because the chances were good as zero (Curtis and Juilliard) .... but for the same reasons I gave you we went ahead. Although he was not accepted, the experience was invaluable and I know he is more confident as a person and pianist.

His audition repertoire at NEC were as follows:

Baroque:  Bach PF No.23 in B Major, BWV892
Classical:  Beethoven - "Appassionata"
Romantic:  Chopin - Scherzo in C sharp minor Op.39 No.3
Fast Etude:  Chopin - "Winter Wind"
Complete work from the 20th or 21st centuries: Bartok - Two Rumanian Dances Op.8a

GO for it and GOOD LUCK!!!!

[mitenka]

Thank you very much for all the helpful feedback! I started thinking of more colleges in state as  rachmaninoff_forever suggested. My current list is as follows. It's subject to change, but I thought it might be a good idea to post it for some insight. Want to make sure that I'm being somewhat realistic.

- Boston Conservatory (Top Choice)
- Temple University (Boyer School of Music, instate)
- Ithaca School of Music
- West Chester University (instate)
- Indiana University (Bloomington, took  rachmaninoff_forever's suggestion!)
- Cleveland Institute of Music
- Manhattan School of Music

I guess my number question is, with the repertoire I am considering above, would it be considered competitive enough for these schools? In the list, I tried to be "well-rounded". All of them, I think are considered pretty good schools. I threw in some harder ones in there as well as instate. Below are schools I am considering

- New England Conservatory: Unsure if I am in par with the level they are looking for, but as emill stated, it's definitely worth a shot even though it is difficult! I'm sure the experience is worth it.
- Royal Northern College of Music: I thought maybe I could consider an school from a different country as well. Might be worth studying in a different country and not to mention, I do like their program.

I'm still fleshing out the Repertoire with my teacher. I'll probably go with my Baroque and Classical choice. Romantic and 20th century (as well as my Etude) still are giving me troubles. Again, I really want to pick appropriate repertoire that will match my college list. Lelle brought a good point in not choosing rep. that is too popular. The Rachmaninoff piece I'm consider is overplayed and I definitely don't want to bore the panel with everything I play.

[pianoman53]

As a romantic piece, you could pick a chopin scherzo. The second is not that difficult, but it still shows quite much if you play it well. You could also pick one of the Hungarian rhapsodies.

As for etudes, any of the fast Chopins will do fine.

About the "It's worth a shot"-idea... In theory I completely agree, but it's difficult to live up to it in real life. If you play badly in one audition, and the jury gives you harsh critique, it might tore your confidence quite a bit, and that will most probably affect your other auditions. You will also get very tired. Don't think you just go there, and play; First, you'll get a schedule. It will say something like "You will play at 11.20". At 11.10, you'll get your adrenaline going. 11.35, a member of the jury will enter your room. Your adrenaline will start pumping again, in hopes that you will play. Most probably, he will say "Sorry, we're a bit late". And so it goes, until you can play, somewhat an hour later.
Obviously you should go if you think you have a shot at a spot, but don't go there "just for the experience". You'll get the experience soon enough.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

By the way, you won't play all of your music.  For your Hayden, they're probably gonna cut you off once you get to the exposition of the first movement.  You might not even get to play any of the other movements.  And the other pieces they'll cut you off whenever depending on how the jury is feeling.

The only piece you can guarantee they'll let you play the whole thing is the Bach,