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Percussion Auditions

Percussion applicants wishing to enroll in the Associate of Fine Arts Degree in Music program may be accepted for study in the Department of Music at one of three levels:

• 200 Percussion major
• 100 Non-major
• Percussion as a secondary instrument

Alternatively, students may be referred to the College's Continuing Education (non-credit) music program for further instruction.

Requirements

See the main Auditions page for important information about all auditions. Percussion auditions require the following, by instrument:

Snare Drum

1. Demonstrate a long closed roll from soft to loud.
2. Perform an etude (or solo of comparable difficulty) from one of the following: Portraits in Rhythm (A. Cirone) or  Morris Goldenberg's Modern School for Snare Drum (any piece from pages 64-68).

Mallets

1. Perform major scales (two octaves) from three sharps to three flats.
2. Perform an etude (or solo of comparable difficulty) from Morris Goldenberg's Modern School for Xylophone (one of the 39 etudes) or Funny Xylophone, Book I (N.J. Zivcovic).

Timpani

1. Tune various intervals without the use of tuning gauges.
2. Perform an etude (or solo of comparable difficulty) from one of the following: Saul Goodman's Modern Method for Tympani (any exercise from pages 59-69), Alfred Friese and Alexander Lepak's Timpani Method (any exercise from page 10-36) or Vic Firth's The Solo Timpanist.