Audition Information

UTEP Department of Music auditions are for scholarship consideration, acceptance into a studio, and class placement. All prospective music majors must audition for and be accepted by an applied faculty member prior to being accepted as a music major.

For information on the requirements for each area of musical study, see "Audition Requirements," below.

Audition Dates

Auditions are for acceptance into the program and for scholarship consideration. Every prospective music major should audition.

Saturday, January 26, 2019 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Monday, February 18, 2019 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
(Strings only) Saturday, February 23, 2019 from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Students should check-in at the Fox Fine Arts Music Building, first floor.
Please arrive at least 15 minutes before your designated audition time.

IMPORTANT: All applicants for Department of Music Scholarships need to be accepted to the university AND have completed their scholarship application prior to being awarded funds.

It is additionally suggested that students:

apply for financial aid, and
complete their application to the university and scholarship application prior to auditioning, however, representatives from Office of Admissions and the Scholarship Office will be at the audition to help students begin this process. See links below.

Official application for all Texas schools: www.applytexas.org
UTEP Scholarship Office website: www.utep.edu/scholarships
Financial Aid Application: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov

For more information, please contact the UTEP Office of Admissions.
Mike Loya Academic Services Building, Room 102
(915) 747-5890
futureminer@utep.edu

Steps to Admission

To be considered for admission as an incoming Freshman, we will need your

Admission Application
High School Transcript, and
Applicable Test Scores.

Step One:

Apply: This can be done online (https://www.applytexas.org) or by printing out and mailing the application by visiting the link for the Office of Admissions listed above.

Step Two:

Send us your High School Transcripts with your application. We will also need your final High School transcript upon graduation.

Step Three:

We will need test scores from either the SAT, ACT, TOEFL or PAA depending on your educational background. The University does offer an institutional version of the ACT that will count toward your admission to UTEP. When you register for these tests, select UTEP as a school to receive your scores. Our code number is 6829.

After you apply:

Once the application process is complete, a letter of decision will be mailed to you. If you have further questions, one of UTEP's Admissions Counselors will be more than happy to talk with you. Call 1-877-74MINER or e-mail futureminer@utep.edu.

>> IMPORTANT: Please click here to schedule your audition. <<

Audition Requirements (by Area of Study)

Strings:

One major or minor three octave scale and corresponding arpeggio sequence
One slow piece or movement from a work
One contrasting fast piece or movement from a work
Possible sight-reading

For more information on string auditions, please contact Dr. Stephanie Meyers at 915-747-7810 or smeyers@utep.edu .

Voice:

Undergraduate Voice:

Those auditioning to become undergraduate voice majors* (Vocal Performance, Commercial Music, and Music Education) will be prepared to perform the following at their audition with piano accompaniment, memorized:

One art song (or aria) in English, Spanish, Italian, French or German, and
One additional song in any style or language

*IMPORTANT NOTE for Transfer Students:

If a student has completed 2 years or more of applied voice at another university, college or community college and wishes to be accepted into upper-level voice at UTEP, the student must successfully pass the equivalent of a barrier jury for the UTEP Voice Faculty during the first week of classes. This barrier jury will be in addition to the audition described above.

Barrier Jury:

Students must sing all selections, from memory, with piano accompaniment.

5 songs or arias in each of the following languages: English, Spanish, Italian, German and French.

Graduate Voice:

Music Performance:

5 contrasting selections from classical repertoire (at least three languages must be represented), from memory:

One aria from an oratorio or an opera
One art song in English
Two foreign language art songs
One additional selection

Music Education:

4 contrasting selections from classical repertoire (at least three languages must be represented), from memory:

One aria from an oratorio or an opera
One art song in English
One foreign language art song
One additional selection

For more information about becoming a voice major at UTEP, visit our Voice Area page. For questions about auditions, contact our Area Coordinator, Dr. Elisa Fraser Wilson at (915) 747-8708 or ewilson@utep.edu.

Piano:

Major and harmonic minor scales, two octaves, hands together
Sight reading
Three contrasting pieces from memory
Selections should demonstrate technique and expressiveness
Selections should represent a variety of historical and stylistic periods
- Suggested composers:
  - Technique—
    - Burgmüller, Johann Friederich
    - Czerny, Carl
    - Heller, Stephen
  - Baroque Era—
    - Bach, Johann Sebastian
    - Couperin, François
    - Handel, George Frideric
    - Rameau, Jean-Philippe
  - Classical Era—
    - Clementi, Muzio
    - Clementi, Diabelli or Kuhlau
    - Haydn, Franz Joseph
    - Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
  - Romantic Era—
    - Beethoven, Ludwig van
    - Brahms, Johannes
    - Chopin, Frédéric
    - Mendelssohn, Felix
    - Schubert, Franz
    - Schumann, Robert
  - Impressionistic and Contemporary Era—
    - Bartók, Béla
    - Debussy, Claude
    - Ginastera, Alberto
    - Kabalevsky, Dmitri
    - Tcherepnin, Ivan

For more detailed information about piano auditions, please contact Dr. Oscar Macchioni at (915) 747-7817 or omacchioni@utep.edu.

Woodwinds and Brass:

All-Region etudes or a Class I UIL solo or equivalent (accompanist preferred but not required).
Scales and sight-reading may be requested.

For more information on woodwind and brass auditions, please contact Dr. Bradley Genevro, Director of Bands, at (915) 747-7796 or bgenevro@utep.edu.

Percussion:

One selection each from the list below; sight-reading on mallet-keyboards (2-mallets) and snare drum; sight-reading on drum-set if candidate selects drum-set for the additional area as listed below.

Symphonic snare drum etude selected from

Cirone, Anthony, Portraits in Rhythm; Delécluse, Jacques, Douze Études; Aleo, Keith, Advanced Etudes for Snare Drum or equivalent.

Mallet keyboard - One Solo Selection (two or four mallets)

2–mallet solo or transcription selected from
- Gottlieb, Beth, Masterworks for Marimba; Creston, Paul, Concertino for Marimba (Mvt. I or II), Kreisler, Fritz, Tambourin Chinois or equivalent.
4–mallet solo or transcription
- Examples include solo compositions by: Rich O’Meara, Keiko Abe, Michael Burrit, Julie Davila, Ivan Trevino, Jacob Monkman, or equivalent.
All Major scales, 2 octaves, any format

A solo performance in at least one additional major percussion area:

Timpani
Drum-set (classic jazz transcription or play-along chart)
Jazz Vibraphone
Additional mallet keyboard solo (marimba or classical vibes)
Afro-Cuban or Brazilian percussion (an in-depth knowledge must be
demonstrated through a representative transcription or etude such as one
from Spiro, Michael and Coletti, Michael, The Language of the Masters)

Incoming freshmen or new students in the program must audition for Director of Percussion Studies, Dr. Andy P. Smith. Due to the large number of currently enrolled percussion majors at UTEP, competitive applicants must successfully be accepted directly into MUSA 1195 (lower level individual instruction). The Department is not accepting MUSA 1290 (open enrollment) students in percussion at this time.

Please contact Dr. Andy P. Smith, Director of Percussion Studies with any specific questions, and to inquire about a free lesson. Dr. Smith offers one free lesson to any student considering Percussion Studies at UTEP. Contact Dr. Smith at 915-747-7802 or apsmith@utep.edu.

Guitar:

Commercial Music (click links for PDF):

Major scale positions on entire guitar neck
Major/Minor pentatonic scale positions on entire neck
Triads, barre chords, 7^th chords, on entire neck
Must know the traditional blues and jazz blues chord progressions
Basic jazz chord melody solo guitar arrangement
Study 3: by M.Giuliani Op.50 No.1
Must demonstrate intermediate fingerstyle and flat-picking technique
Study #1 from Melodic Rhythms for Guitar (play written notes with pick)

Classical Guitar

Tárrega, Francisco (choose one): Alborada, Marieta, Pavana in EM, Maria or Mazurka en Sol.
Bach, J.S. (choose one): Prelude BWV 999, Prelude BWV 1007, Allemande BWV 1007, Allemande BWV 996
Students wanting to concentrate on classical will be required to play five arpeggio formulas taken from the Giuliani 120 Arpeggios nos. 1 to 20.

For more detailed information on guitar auditions, please contact Shaun Mahoney at (915) 747-6627 or stmahoney@utep.edu.

>> CLICK HERE to schedule your audition. <<

Connect With Us

The University of Texas at El Paso
UTEP Department of Music
Fox Fine Arts Center, Room M301
500 W University
El Paso, Texas 79968-0552

E: Music@utep.edu
P: (915) 747-5606
F: (915) 747-5023