College Auditions

[jokering]

Hey everyone, i'm new here... a young jazz/blues etc. guitar player.

I have recently applied for Capilano College, the school with the premier jazz program around here (Vancouver), and the date of my audition is drawing near. Just wondering if anyone here has gone through school auditions like this, and if they could mention some experiences etc. so I know what to expect.

I've prepared 3 pieces - they ask for a blues jazz tune, a jazz standard, and a classical tune. I have an arrangement i've worked out for 'the Swinging Shepherd Blues', a solo guitar arrangement of 'Misty' by Errol Garner, and I'm doing 'Canarios' by Gaspar Sanz as my classical piece.

What have other people used as their audition pieces? Any comments? :cool:
thanks alot :)

[metaljustice83]

I think I played some basic sor studies as my audition pieces, but I was in the pre-music program at my school so it didn't matter as much. But, you sound like you have some good selections. As far as the classical piece you really have to go above and beyond whats written. ie. Bring out your melody and dynamics. Those are the things that will get you noticed.


matt

[silent-storm]

hey, that's where I go...

I can tell you right now that I'm 99% sure you will not have to play the classical piece. There is some descrepancy between what the institution decides people coming into the program need to be able to do and what the auditioners actually want to hear. You don't need to know how to play classical in this program and when I did my audition the two guys doing it weren't even aware that was on the requirements. So I'd prepare another jazz'ish piece just in case they want to hear three. Just learn a simple blues head that you are able to play with one of the instructors. Play the head, solo, comp, head out, tag the ending. But then again, maybe things have changed, so it might be something you want to keep up.

I'm not sure how this came up, but Ihor (possibly one of your auditioners) told me the other day that the one and only thing they are looking for when you audition is that you are teachable. What does that mean? A willingness to learn and make it apparent that the first year stuff wont be completely over your head...which means you can read music, can play the major scale and know more then two voicings for G7. Nothing fancy at all, you start back at square one either way.

Are you auditioning for spring simester? Because I was unaware that they took people part way through the year. Although there are certainly less students then the last two years. I think enrollment is down, plus last year's grad class was pretty big. If you don't get in, I'd check out VCC. It's smaller, but they let you play whatever you want and they now have a degree program and a lot of the faculty is the same as Cap. Plus it's easy to transfer to Cap if you want to. That's what I did. A year at VCC and then transfered to Cap. Kind of ended up loosing a year in process, but you don't go to music school to get a degree in four years, you go to get better.

Other then that, just play with confidence and take Fred's advice (the bald guy) with a block of salt.

good luck

[jokering]

Awesome, thanks for the replies guys...

Damn I really hope i get to play the classical thing though- i really love the tune...

No I am auditioning for NEXT september - I leave town for a few months to do volunteer work around canada, so I have to set up my audition for before I leave mid november.
I'm kinda nervous, but confident that I can do it.