School of Music

The keyboard division within the School of Music includes instruction in piano, organ, jazz piano, harpsichord, and synthesizer, contributing to a variety of degree plans. Many major in performance, which includes a strong pedagogy (how to teach) component. The performance degree prepares students for professional work as performers and studio teachers and is the suggested degree for those who wish to pursue their instrument as a career. Some students in other degrees, such as jazz studies, elementary education, media music, and composition take keyboard instruction as part of those degree plans.

The keyboard faculty includes six full-time faculty members and approximately six part-time faculty members with combined experience of university teaching exceeding 200 years. Courses besides private instruction are offered in accompanying, organ registration and literature, keyboard harmony and other skills, supervised teaching, and piano and organ pedagogy.

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All School of Music applicants must audition on their chosen instrument. To audition, complete a Music Admission/Scholarship Application and submit a letter of recommendation from a qualified music teacher online. Once the audition materials have been submitted to the School of Music, the student may either schedule a time to perform a live audition at BYU, or submit a DVD or VHS videotape (not cassette tape or CD).

It may not be possible to hear all the music prepared for a live audition. Representative samples or sections of audition pieces will be heard. Only those auditioning are allowed in the audition studio.

Admission Application & Audition Dates, Fall Semester 2012

Click here to apply.

Questions? E-mail us at music@byu.edu or call the School of Music at 801-422-8903.

Graduate applicants: Please contact Irene Peery-Fox at 801-422-8759 or irene_peery-fox@byu.edu.

Applicants intending to major in Bachelor of Arts, Composition, Media Music, Sound Recording Technology, Jazz Studies, or Music Education: Elementary Music Specialist should contact faculty overseeing those degrees prior to their audition who may request additional performance repertoire, faculty interviews, portfolios or other materials. Note that pianists are not allowed to major in Secondary Music Education.

Audition Requirements

Must be performed by memory

1. A major work by J.S. Bach (prelude and fugue, set of dances, toccata, etc.). Inventions or other similar intermediate level pieces are not acceptable.
2. Complete sonata, (all movements) by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, or Schubert.
3. A solo work by a 19th or 20th century composer. This work must be of moderately difficult level or higher, as defined in Maurice Hinson's Guide to the Pianist's Repertoire, a standard piano repertoire reference text.
4. Scales: all major and harmonic minor scales, hands together, four octaves up and down, in sixteenth notes at a minimum tempo of = 132 m.m.

Undergraduate students pursuing the piano performance degree at Brigham Young University will have access to a variety of specialized courses designed to ensure success in the professional world. The degree offers four years of intensive training in performance skills, piano pedagogy, collaborative performance, and piano literature. Individual attention is at the heart of all course work with students being personally mentored by the entire keyboard faculty during their duration at BYU. Along with keyboard studies, students will receive instruction in core classes such as music theory, history, ear training, large ensembles, and conducting.

Substantial performance opportunities are provided on campus including solo recitals, weekly masterclasses, in-school competitions, joint recitals and frequent chamber music performances. Each year, students participate in masterclasses and private lessons with visiting guest-artist teachers. Recent guests of the piano area have included Nelita True (Eastman School of Music), Menahem Pressler (Indiana University), Arkady Aronov (Mannes College, Manhattan School of Music), Alan Chow (Northwestern University), Angela Cheng (Oberlin), Douglas Humpherys (Eastman School of Music) Arthur Greene (University of Michigan), as well as Martin Jones, Claude Frank, Andre-Michel Schub, Kevin Kenner, Frederic Chiu, Barbara Nissman and many others.

Following graduation, our students have been accepted to some of most prestigious graduate programs in the world including: Eastman School of Music, The Juilliard School; Indiana University, Manhattan School of Music, University of Michigan, Northwestern, Peabody Conservatory; University of Southern California, Yale, and London's Royal Academy of Music, Italy's International Piano Academy at Lake Comoamong many others. Upon completion of their education, BYU graduates are enjoying successful careers in teaching and performing from the local to international levels.

BYU continues to expand its influence both by encouraging programs that are central to the church's purposes and by making its resources available to the church when called upon to do so.

There is a strong probability that one who plays the piano will at some time be called to play the organ for church services. By taking advantage of the opportunity to study organ at BYU, one can further develop talents and skills in preparation for more effective church music service.

BYU offers organ training from novice through graduate levels, including several independent study organ courses and summer workshops. Go to the organ study page for more information, or contact Dr. Don Cook or Dr. Douglas Bush for more information.

The repertoire requirements for the audition on piano are the same, regardless of plans for performance, composition, Bachelor of Arts, Media, or Education Majors. Bachelor of Arts majors will be held to the same standard as performance majors in the audition process. Please note that concerto movements are not permitted. Students will not be able to sign up for an audition time until all of the required items have been submitted in the application process.

Applicants may start the audition with any work of their choice, including their scales if they choose. The faculty will choose one scale at random and the pianist will then play it in its major and harmonic minor version. The faculty will then select the remaining works in the order of their preference. Most students generally play their scales last in the audition. Auditions are generally about ten minutes long. It is highly unlikely that applicants will be able to perform everything they have prepared for the audition. Depending on the repertoire – there is a chance you could be asked to move forward to another section within a single work or to another movement.

Piano auditions take place in the Harris Fine Arts Center, either in the Nelke Theater or E-400. Students will perform on a superb nine foot New York Steinway Model D. Applicants should dress professionally for the audition. Practice rooms will be available for students to warm up in before their audition.

In some seasons, there are as many as 100 applicants who audition on the piano. Our program has the capacity to accept about 14 incoming freshman performance majors. The faculty will try to let applicants know the results of the audition in approximately three weeks of the audition.

Live auditions are always the last Saturday in January. There will be five members of the piano faculty listening on that day. Each faculty member will give a numerical score to every audition. Those numbers are then averaged and put into a ranking order of preference. Those scores are also tempered by other available information including the aural skills test, GPA, ACT, and resume.

Students unable to attend a live audition have the option of sending a video recorded audition. (This recording must have a video component, and not simply audio.) It is imperative that applicants check the formatting of their recorded DVD should they choose not to perform a live audition. Every year we receive one that does NOT work simply because it has not been properly formatted. Students should not edit within a single work or movement. However, they should feel free to re-record works and movements until they are completely satisfied with their performance. Students should record ALL major and harmonic minor scales for a recorded audition. They can play these in any order, but should perform them in one track. Applicants will not have their DVD returned to them, unless they make special arrangements for its return.

All applicants are automatically eligible for consideration of a merit scholarship. Students who are accepted into the piano performance are all eligible for an increased scholarship award every April. This increase will depend on their progress and success in the program, and is also subject to the availability of funds. The vast majority of our students are recipients of merit awards by the time they graduate.