Audition and Application Information
Music Studies
All applicants to the Music Studies concentration must successfully audition and be accepted by the department as well as be accepted into LSU New Orleans. Please read these instructions carefully.
Music Studies is a generalized program that includes both music and the broader liberal arts. To ensure success, the prospective student must demonstrate basic musical skills in performance, musicianship, and knowledge of theory.
There are two components to your application:
Part 1: Music Studies Application Form
Please download the Music Studies Application Form. Fill it out and save it as a .pdf file. Include your name in the title. Include the .pdf file as an attachment when you email your audition material or print it out and bring to your in-person audition.
Download: Music Studies Application Form
Part 2: Auditions
Students may audition online or in person. Online auditions are strongly encouraged as they both allow us to assess your best work and eliminate the need for you to travel to campus.
Option A: Online Auditions
Professor Brent Rose
Phone: 504-280-5496
Email: [email protected]
Robin Williams, D.M.A.
Phone: 504-280-6789
Email: [email protected]
The Department of Music accepts students in accordance with requirements from the Office of Admissions. Applications may be submitted at any time, but the department strongly encourages applicants to submit their materials well before the university deadlines.
Online auditions may be submitted at any time, but as noted earlier, applicants are strongly encouraged to submit materials well before LSU New Orleans’s deadlines.
Please adhere to the following guidelines when preparing the audition video:
1. You may use any video recorder as long as the audio is of respectable quality. Avoid distracting background noises.
2. See Audition Contents below for details about what to include.
3. State your name clearly at the beginning of each recording.
4. Place your best performance first on the recording.
5. After recording, upload your videos to YouTube or similar platform. Include your name and the title of the work in the YouTube title.
6. Send an email containing:
- the links to your videos
- your completed Music Studies Audition Application Form (attached as a .pdf)
- the words “AUDITION SUBMISSION” and your name in the email header.
Send the e-mail to the faculty coordinators for your area.
Option B: In-person Auditions
In-person auditions must be scheduled with the faculty coordinator of your area via telephone or email. In-person auditions follow traditional protocols:
- Arrive early and check in at the Music office – PAC 331 or directly with the faculty coordinator if pre-arranged. We will direct you to a warm-up space.
- Bring all needed materials: sheet music, reeds, strings, bows, cymbals, sticks; the department cannot provide materials other than pianos and standard percussion instruments (timpani, marimba/xylophone/vibraphone, and snare drum).
- You will be asked to perform the same music as you would for an online audition; see “Audition Contents” below.
Audition Content
Remember to complete the application form and include it with your emailed materials or print it out and bring it to your in-person audition.
There are three parts to the audition.
1. Performance: Record two musical selections on your primary instrument that demonstrate your best material.
- The two selections should total a minimum of 5 minutes.
- The music you perform may be of the type, style or genre that is best representative of your work. It may be vocal or instrumental. It may be performed solo or as part of a group. If you perform as part of a group, your contribution must be clearly identifiable. On the application form you will be asked to identify yourself if there is more than one performer.
2. Musicianship:
- Record yourself singing the first verse of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee (America)” by Samuel Francis Smith. You may sing using the words or the syllable “la.”
- Record yourself singing a one-octave scale, ascending and descending, in the major key of your choice. Use the syllable “la” or solfege if you know it.
3. Theory: Please contact the area coordinator to discuss theory testing and evaluation.