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Music

Flute Audition Requirements

Admissions Auditions

In order to study Flute at CWU, you must first audition for the music faculty. This step is required to complete your acceptance into the CWU Department of Music program. This audition gives us an opportunity to hear the level you have achieved in your musical skills and it gives you the opportunity to discuss your development with collegiate instructors. Performance entrance standards may be found at the bottom of the page. For more details about the admissions process please visit our Music Program Auditions & Admissions page.

For your audition we recommend the following:
  • Select music which best displays your performance level.
  • We strongly recommend you prepare your audition material under the supervision of your private teacher and/or music director.

Requirements

  • Undergraduate:
    • All major scales, 2 octaves
    • Two contrasting pieces or movements for solo flute or flute and piano: one that demonstrates technique and one that demonstrates lyricality
  • Graduate
    • One standard concerto for flute (e.g., Mozart, Ibert, Nielsen, Liebermann, Jolivet, etc.)
    • One standard sonata for flute and piano (e.g., Bach, Reinecke, Bonis, Poulenc, Hindemith, Liebermann, Prokofiev, etc.)
    • One work for solo flute written in the 20th or 21st century
    • An additional work of the applicant’s choice for solo flute or flute and piano that is distinct in style from the previous works listed
    • Three standard orchestral excerpts

Audition tips

  • Work to play with a beautiful tone, controlled technique, overt musicality, solid rhythm and pulse, and have a clear understanding of how the excerpts and concerto fits in with the orchestral accompaniment.
  • Listen! Many times to each excerpt within its orchestral context.

Admissions Audition Registration

Before you can audition you must register for an audition time. Please visit our Music Program Auditions & Admissions page for further information.

Ensemble Audition Requirements

For New and Returning Flute Students wishing to play in a large ensemble. Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Winds, and Symphonic Band auditions will take place during the first week of of each new quarter. Fall auditions have specific materials for all who intend to play in a large ensemble. For the schedule, and further details, please visit our Ensemble Auditions page. Auditions for winter and/or spring will be announced as needed. Check our Audition Excerpts page for specific flute excerpts.

Entrance Standards for Flute

Transfer students who have flute as their major instrument will be placed at an applied level based on their skill achievement. To begin your studies at the 364 level in the Flute Studio at CWU you must demonstrate proficiency on your instrument in an audition or placement lesson based upon the guidelines below. Students not meeting these standard may be placed in the 164 or 264 level based upon the discretion of the auditioning faculty.

"The man who thinks he can and the man who thinks he can't are both right" - Henry Ford

Junior level

To pass into the 364 level, the student should demonstrate Minimum competencies:

Technique

  • Natural and melodic minor scales
  • Diminished, minor, major triad routine
  • Augmented triad routine
  • Fully diminished triads and sevenths

Select Studies

  • Andersen, Etudes, Op. 30, 60 and 63
  • Gates, Odd Meter Etudes
  • Karg-Elert, 30 Caprices
  • Taffanel and Gaubert, Method Complete de Flute

Select Repertoire Examples

  • Aitken, Iclcle, Flute Alone
  • C.P.E. Bach, Concerto in D Minor
  • J.S. Bach, Sonatas in A Minor, E Minor, and E Major
  • Beethoven, Serenade, Op. 25
  • Beethoven, Sonata in B-flat Major
  • Debussy, Bilitis
  • Doppler, Hungarian Pastoral Fantasy
  • Dorff, Sonatine de Giverny, Piccolo and Piano
  • Dvorak, Sonatina, Op. 100
  • Faure, Fantasie
  • Gaubert, Fantasie
  • Haydn, Concerto in D Major
  • Hindemith, Sonata
  • Hoover, Three Sketches, Piccolo and Piano
  • Kuhlau, Three Fantasias, Op. 38, Flute Alone
  • Milhaud, Sonatine
  • Mozart, Concertos in G, D, and C Major
  • St. Saens, Odelette
  • Schubert, Sonata per Arpeggione
  • Vivaldi, Pic. Concertos in C Major (2) and A Minor
  • Vivaldi, Flute Concertos

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