School of Music

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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/VHS videotape or CD/cassette audiotape.

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. For live auditions, piano accompaniment is not required, but you may bring an accompanist if you would like.

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 April Clayton at 801-422-1177 or April_Clayton@byu.edu.

Audition Requirements

Technique

1. Scales: Two-octave scales in all major and melodic minor keys. Play slurred. Three-octave chromatic and three-octave C major scales will also be required. Play single tongued at a tempo of = 96 m.m. or faster.
2. Sight-reading (for those performing live auditions).

Repertoire

1. Two contrasting movements from the solo sonatas of J.S. Bach, Teleman, or Handel.
2. The first movements of either the Mozart Concerto in G or in D.
3. A piece that demonstrates tone quality and technical fluency selected from either the nineteenth-century, French conservatory pieces, or twentieth-century works.

Download as PDF

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 VHS videotape or audio recording (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. For live auditions, piano accompaniment is not required, but you may bring an accompanist if you would like.

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 April Clayton at 801-422-1177 or April_Clayton@byu.edu.

Audition Requirements

Technique

1. Scales: Perform all major scales in two octaves (within the normal range of the instrument) in eighth notes at a tempo of = 100 m.m. Play each scale twice, once slurred and once staccato.
2. Sight-reading (for those performing live auditions).

Repertoire

Prepare at least two selections by different composers.
Repertoire should display:

1. Technical facility and rhythm:

   Music containing a generous number of quick packages.

2. Expression and tone:

   Slower music chosen to demonstrate legato and with mature musical feeling.

Choose from contrasting periods, slow and fast movements from sonatas and concertos or slow and fast portions of significant "concerto pieces." These selections should be at least the level of difficulty, for example, of the Handel Sonatas for oboe, Carl Nielsen Fantasy Pieces, or the Paladihle Concertante.

Download as PDF

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. Please position the camera so the embouchure and fingers are visible. Audio Recordings will not be accepted.

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.

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 April Clayton at 801-422-1177 or April_Clayton@byu.edu.

Audition Requirements

Prepare the following:

Technique

1. Scales: Perform all major and natural minor scales (with at least a two octave range) in sixteenth notes at a tempo no slower than = 80. Be able to play each scale legato or staccato.
2. Sight-reading (for those performing live auditions)

Repertoire

1. Excerpts and/or solo, to demonstrate:
   1. Technical facility and rhythm: music of a fast tempo containing varied rhythms and articulations, particularly demonstrating the ability to tongue numerous consecutive staccato notes.
   2. Expression and tone: music of a slow tempo containing expressive legato passages with varied dynamics.

Note: Repertoire should be chosen from the standard clarinet repertoire; specifically well-known concertos, orchestral excerpts, or sonatas and other chamber music.

Download as PDF

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.

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. For live auditions, piano accompaniment is not required, but you may bring an accompanist if you would like.

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 April Clayton at 801-422-1177 or April_Clayton@byu.edu.

Audition Requirements

Prepare the following:

1. Two contrasting etudes from the Weissenborn 50 Advanced Studies
2. One solo of your choice (no accompanist necessary)
3. Chromatic Scale
   1. Three octaves (or more, if possible)
   2. Recommended Tempo: =100
4. Major scales
   1. Full range, if possible (for example C major can be played three octaves; G major can be played two octaves plus three notes, to high C)
   2. In eighth notes (recommended tempo, =100)
5. Harmonic minor scales (not required, but encouraged)
   1. Full range, if possible (for example C harmonic minor can be played three octaves; E harmonic minor can be played two octaves, and five notes, to high C)
   2. In eighth notes (recommended tempo, =100)

Note: selections need not be memorized

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All School of Music applicants must audition with their chosen instrument or voice. 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 VHS videotape or audio recording (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. For live auditions, piano accompaniment is not required.

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 Claudine Bigelow at 801-422-1177 or April_Clayton@byu.edu.

Audition Requirements

1. Scales: Perform all major scales and the chromatic scale in the full range of the instrument in sixteenth notes at a tempo of = 96 m.m. or faster. Play them legato and with single-tongued staccato.
2. Excerpts and/or solo, to display:
   1. Technical facility and rhythm: music containing a generous number of passages comprising the equivalent of at least four consecutive sixteenth notes at a tempo of = 80 m.m. or faster.
   2. Expression and tone: slower music chosen to demonstrate ability to play legato and with mature musical feeling and intonation.
3. If you have skills in jazz, be prepared to play the following:
   1. The head from a traditional jazz tune (Charlie Parker Omnibook, Traditional Bebop Heads, or a comparable source may be used).
   2. A lead chart from a big band swing tune.
   3. A solo demonstrating your improvisation skills. Please provide a play-along CD.
4. Sight-reading (for live auditions only).

One of the leading woodwind quintets in the Western United States, the Orpheus Winds is a resident faculty ensemble at the Brigham Young University School of Music, in Provo, Utah. The quintet has a forty-year tradition of performing regularly on campus and throughout Utah. They have appeared at many national and international venues, including engagements in Chicago, New York, Beijing and Shanghai, China. Most recently, the ensemble has performed recitals in Puebla, Mexico, and in Salvador, Brazil.

Orpheus Winds is composed of:

April Clayton, a native of Bountiful, Utah, has returned to the Utah area as the flute professor at BYU and a member of the Orpheus Winds quintet. She has performed in Moscow, New York City, Barbados, Italy, and across the United States. This year she presented solo recitals in Seoul and Incheon, South Korea, and in New York's Carnegie Hall as an Artists International Solo Recital Debut Award Recipient. Dr. Clayton has been Principal Flute and Concerto Soloist with the New York Lyric Orchestra, and has performed at the Sarasota Music Festival and as a member of the Jupiter Symphony, the National Repertory Orchestra, and the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble. She received her D.M.A. from The Juilliard School, where she was a Starr Doctoral Fellow; she also graduated summa cum laude from Cincinnati Conservatory and was a National Merit Scholar at Oberlin Conservatory. Ms. Clayton won First Place in the MTNA Competition and the Jefferson Symphony Young Artist Concerto Competition, and was a winner of the Cincinnati Philharmonia Concerto Competition and the NFA Orchestral Audition Competition. Carol Wincenc, Dr. Bradley Garner, and Michel Debost are among her past teachers.

Geralyn Giovannetti is professor of oboe at Brigham Young University and a member of the Orpheus Winds. She is also the Associate Director (Undergraduate Studies) of the School of Music. She graduated from the University of Western Ontario in her native Canada and has a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from the University of Michigan. As a member of the award winning Canadian ensemble, Essex Winds, she has performed and studied at the Banff School of Fine Arts and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. This ensemble has performed in Europe, the United States, and throughout Canada. The Essex Winds have recorded frequently for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and were selected by the Canadian Music Center to record the compact disc "Quintette." This CD was nominated for a 1997 Juno Award. The Essex Winds have also released two recordings of classical and twentieth century works. Dr. Giovannetti has taught at the Universities of Western Ontario, Windsor, and Michigan. She has performed with the orchestras of London (Canada), Kitchener, Calgary, and Utah, as well as the Canadian Chamber Orchestra. She was Principal Oboe of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra from 1983-1990.

Laurence Lowe, a prizewinner at the 1996 McMahon International Solo Competition, has established a national reputation as a horn soloist, orchestral player, and teacher. He has been a soloist at five international horn workshops sponsored by the International Horn Society. Mr. Lowe has performed numerous recitals at colleges and universities throughout the United States. A former member of the Utah Symphony, Mr. Lowe is principal horn of The Orchestra at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. Orchestral and chamber music engagements have taken him to Europe, the Far East, Brazil, Mexico, Carnegie Hall, and the Blossom Festival in Cleveland. Mr. Lowe records extensively for motion pictures and television, and can be heard playing principal horn on many current motion pictures and television shows. He recently played solo horn in Mannheim Steamrollers "A Fresh Air Christmas" video. He has recorded his first solo CD, an album of American sonatas for horn and piano available through Tantara Recordings. Mr. Lowe is professor of horn at Brigham Young University.

Jaren Hinckley is the clarinet professor at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He received a Doctor of Music Degree from The Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, where he studied with Frank Kowalsky. He holds a Masters Degree in Clarinet Performance from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana where he studied with James Campbell and Howard Klug; and a Bachelor of Music Degree from the University of Utah, where he studied with Christie Lundquist. Other teachers include David M. Randall, John Fullam, and Sonia DeFord. Included in his solo work are performances with the Utah Symphony, the Canyonlands New Music Ensemble, and the Manhattan School of Music Philharmonia. He has recorded two CD's with the Canyonlands New Music Ensemble and the Utah Composers Ensemble—chamber groups dedicated to the advancement of new music. Through his involvement with these groups and others, he has performed the world-premieres of many solo and chamber works. He has created a new approach to music pedagogy based on the acting techniques of Constantin Stanislavski. He is married to Dr. Jane Hinckley of the BYU College of Humanities and they have two beautiful children.

Christian Smith has been on faculty at the BYU School of Music since 1997. In addition to his responsibilities as the bassoon professor, he teaches instrumental conducting, directs the woodwind chamber music program, and regularly performs with Orpheus Winds, the resident faculty wind quintet. An active orchestral musician, Dr. Smith has played under such conductors as Robert Shaw, Raymond Leppard, John Williams, Joseph Silverstein, Maxim Shostakovich, Keith Lockhart, and others. Likewise, he has performed with the Utah Symphony, Utah Opera, Ballet West Orchestra, Toledo Symphony, Ann Arbor Symphony, Flint (Michigan) Symphony, Michigan Chamber Players, Utah Chamber Artists, Colors of the Baroque, and the Canyon Winds woodwind quintet. Currently he is principal bassoonist with the Orchestra at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. As a studio musician, he has recorded under the Telarc, Biddulph, Prima, Shadow Mountain, and Mormon Tabernacle Choir record labels, as well as for numerous film and television scores. From 1993-1997 he served as Coordinator of Woodwind Studies at Ricks College (Rexburg, Idaho) where he founded the Ricks College Chamber Winds ensemble and frequently conducted the Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. His most influential teachers/mentors have been Clyn Barrus (BYU), Glenn Williams (BYU), and Richard Beene (University of Michigan). He is married to Patricia Bonney Smith; they are the parents of seven children.

Bizet—Jeux d'enfants Op. 22, Mvt. 1

Debussy—En bateau, Mvt. 1

Etler—Quintet No. 2 (1957), Mvt. 2

Etler—Quintet No. 2 (1957), Mvt. 3

Etler—Quintet No. 2 (1957), Mvt. 4

Ligeti—Six Bagatelles, Mvt. 1

Ligeti—Six Bagatelles, Mvt. 3

Szervansky—Quintet (1953), Mvt. 1

Mailing Address:

School of Music
C-550 HFAC
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT 84602

Phone:

(801) 422-8903

E-mail:

music_receptionist@byu.edu