Undergraduate Audition Requirements - Voice (Classical)

 

Voice     (For Jazz Voice, see Jazz Instruments/Voice)

Professor William Hite, williamhite@music.umass.edu

Live Audition Requirements

Repertoire
Perform three (3) songs from memory, selected from the art song, Lieder, oratorio, or opera literature demonstrating more than one language.

An accompanist will be provided during the audition (not during the warm-up). Applicants only need to provide hard copies of their music for the accompanist; extra copies are not required or desired by the audition panel.

Aural Skills
Students will be asked to perform melodic and rhythmic sight reading as well as tonal memory exercises.

 

Remote Audition Requirements

All Remote Auditions require faculty approval. Please see the Note Concerning Remote Auditions for further information.

Repertoire
Students must first prepare a video submission via YouTube performing three (3) songs as outlined in the repertoire for the Live Audition Requirements. Students must submit a link to this video with the submission of their Music Application.

Video setup:

• The camera should be placed such that the singer is visible at least from the waist up.
• Please use a live accompanist if possible. If a live accompanist is not available, a pre-recorded accompaniment track for your pieces is permitted. Accompaniments for many of the standard audition pieces available free of charge on YouTube. You can also investigate accompaniment software such as appcompanist.com.
• Do not actively accompany yourself on the video (though you are welcome to record your own accompaniment track).
• Introduce yourself and the piece you will sing for each of your selections.
• Please do not edit your videos. We want this to be as close to a live audition as possible.
• Please treat this like a live audition, both in regards to personal attire and the presentation of yourself and your surroundings. In addition, while the faculty wants the sound and video quality to be a good as possible, it is not necessary to make the recording in a professional studio.

Aural Skills
Students who pass the repertoire portion of the Remote Audition will be invited to a Zoom interview with the Voice faculty for an aural skills test. Students will be notified individually and invited to coordinate the date and time for their interview.

For the tonal memory portion of the interview, the student will require the ability to hear audio examples and sing them back to the panel. The student will also be asked to view a sight singing example via shared screen, be given a starting pitch, and then sing the example. It is recommend that the student perform the aural skills interview on a computer rather than mobile device for better viewing. 

Similar to the repertoire video, professional attire and presentation should be observed and the camera angle must show the student from the waist up.