Admission: General Information
Auditions: Specific Information
2008-2009 Audition Dates
2008-2009 Audition Response Form (Available Soon)

Degree Programs
Faculty of The Crane School of Music
Recommended Repertoire for Auditions
Contact Information

Recommendation Forms: Although letters of recommendation are not required as part of the music audition/admissions process, they are encouraged and the forms below are provided for your convenience.

• Music Admissions Recommendation Form
• Private Music Instructor Recommendation Form

Admission: General Information

• Admission to The Crane School consists of two parts: 1) acceptance by Crane following successful completion of the Crane audition process; and 2) academic admission by the College.
• The scheduling of an audition on one of the specific On-or Off-Campus Audition Days is the first step in the Crane admissions process. These dates can be found by clicking the "Audition Dates" link located above on this page.
• An audition reservation can be made by completing the Response Form (the 2008-2009 version will be available soon)or by calling 1-877-POTSDAM (On-Campus Auditions only, select The Crane School of Music menu item and then select Undergraduate Admissions).
• To obtain an Application for Admission to the College, please contact the Office of Admissions (see above).
• All auditions must be scheduled on one of the specific On-or Off-Campus Audition Days. Unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate individually scheduled auditions.
• Piano and percussion auditions are only available on the On-Campus dates.
• Off-Campus Audition requests must include a check for $40 or the form will be returned. Please enclose a check made out to The Crane School of Music with your audition request.
• Students auditioning for the Bachelor of Music: Musical Studies degree with an emphasis in Composition must apply for admission to the composition program. A portfolio of compositions with audio recordings of the works is required for consideration for the program. Please send these materials to:Music Admissions, The Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam, 44 Pierrepont Avenue, Potsdam, NY 13676.  Note that the portfolio submission does not replace a performance audition; applicants for the composition major must complete a performance audition as well.  If you have any questions about applying for the concentration in composition, please contact Dr. Heinick at (315) 267-2410.
• Due to the large number of auditions each year for admission to Crane, prospective students are only allowed one audition per performance area, per year/admissions cycle. Students who are ill for their scheduled audition date should contact Crane prior to the audition and the appointment will be rescheduled. The first opportunity for a student to reaudition is on the December audition date of the next audition year/cycle.

Auditions: Specific Information

• The performance audition is designed to give candidates an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to pursue college-level, private music instruction
• The audition is administered by faculty members qualified to judge the quality of the student's performance on his/her primary instrument or voice.
• On-Campus Auditions are usually administered by the teacher or teachers of that specific performance area.
• Off-Campus Auditions are administered by a teacher in that area (one of the string teachers for all strings,one of the brass teachers for all brass,etc.) and audio or video taped for the primary teacher's review.
• As a general rule, it is desirable for candidates other than vocalists (vocalists please see below) to perform contrasting movements from one work along with a movement or work from a different style period. Specific information including representative repertoire listed alphabetically by performance medium can be found further on in this document.
• Pianists and vocalists are required to perform from memory. Performers on other instruments need not memorize their music.
• Accompanists for both On-and Off-Campus voice auditions are available for a fee of $25 (please check the appropriate box on the Response Form and enclose a check for the amount indicated; Off-Campus and Accompanist fees can be included in the same check). Instrumentalists are not required to perform with accompaniment.
• The audition process will include a 15 or 20-minute performance audition which usually includes a brief sight-reading example of moderate difficulty. Opportunities for students and their parents to meet with faculty, administrators,college admissions personnel and current Crane students (On-Campus Auditions only) in both formal and informal settings will be included in the schedule.

Degree Programs

The Crane School of Music offers comprehensive and fully-accredited degree programs in the following areas:

• Bachelor of Music:Music Education
• Bachelor of Music:Performance
• Bachelor of Music:Music Business
• Bachelor of Music:Musical Studies (with an emphasis in either Theory/History or Composition)
• Bachelor of Arts:Music

Admission to all of these degree programs require an audition.

Faculty of The Crane School of Music

Photos and biographical information about the faculty of The Crane School of Music can be found on the Crane Website at: www.potsdam.edu/crane (click on the Faculty menu and the pull-down area menu to select a specific area).

Recommended Repertoire for Auditions

The following suggestions are representative of acceptable repertoire. There are obviously hundreds of selections that would also serve. If in doubt, please contact the Director of Music Admissions for guidance at (315) 267-2453.

BASSOON

Besozzi, Sonata; Galliard, Six Sonatas; Fasch, Sonata; Telemann, Sonata in F Minor; Hurlstone, Sonata in F; Mozart, Concerto; Rosetti, Concerto in B Flat; Saint-Saëns, Sonata in G; Vivaldi, Concerti; Weber, Concerto in F, Weber, Hungarian Fantasy; Hummel, Concerto.

CELLO

Handel, Sonata in C Major, Sonata in G Major, Sonata in E Minor; J.S. Bach, Suites for Cello; Saint-Saëns, Concerto; Boccherini, Concerto in B Flat; Fauré, Elegy.

CLARINET

Debussy, Arabesques; Jeanjean, Arabesques; Delmas, Promenade; Hindemith, Sonata; Jeanjean, Andantino; Messager, Solo de Concours; Mozart, Concerto; Poulenc, Sonata; Weber, Duo Concertante; Finzi, Five Bagatelles; Stravinsky, Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet; Saint-Saëns, Sonata; Osborne, Rhapsody.

All candidates on clarinet must prepare two contrasting etudes (fast/slow), and all major scales, in 16th notes, quarter note = 80. (E,F,F#, & G - 3 octaves, all others - two octaves). In addition, sightreading will be a part of the audition.

DOUBLE BASS

Marcello, Sonata in E Minor, Sonata in G Minor, Sonata in F Major, Sonata in A Minor; Simandl, Tempo de Polacca; Capuzzi, Concerto in D Major; Corelli, Sonata in D Minor; Vivaldi, Sonata No. 3 in A Minor, Sonata No. 5 in E Minor; Galliard, Sonata in F Major; Weinstein, Contemporary Modal Solos.

EUPHONIUM (for Tuba, please see below)

Barat, Andante and Allegro; Fasch, Sonata; Frackenpohl Sonata; Marcello, Sonatas; Telemann, Fantasies or Sonatas; Capuzzi, Andante and Rondo; Clinard, Sonata; David, Concertino; Horovitz, Concerto; White, Lyric Suite

FLUTE

Students should be prepared to perform a minimum of two contrasting sections or movements from two contrasting styles or periods of music. In addition, students may be asked major and chromatic scales as well as an example of sight-reading. Repertoire: sonatas by J.S. Bach, Handel, Hindemith, Marcello, Poulenc, Telemann; concertos by Boccherini, Devienne, Haydn, Ibert, Mozart, Nielsen, Pergolesi, Quantz, Telemann; other solo pieces such as Bloch, Suite Modale; Chaminade, Concertino; Debussy, Syrinx; Donjon, Offertoire; Doppler, Hungarian Fantasie; Fauré, Fantasie or other French Conservatory pieces; Honegger, Danse de la Chèvre; Hüe, Serenade; Kennan, Night Soliloquy; suites and fantasies by Telemann and J.S. Bach. Other pieces of comparable difficulty also are acceptable.

GUITAR

All Segovia major scales using rest strokes and free strokes. Sight-reading of single-line melodies up through the 5th position. An etude by Carcassi or Sor. A solo work at the level of: a pavan by Milán; Guárdame las vacas by Narváez; a galliard by Dowland; Prélude in D Minor or Bourrée in E Minor, or movements from a cello suite by J.S. Bach; Lágrima, Adelita, or Capricho árabe by Tárrega; Valse or a prelude by Ponce; a prelude by Villa-Lobos.

HARP

A representative etude such as Bochsa, Quarante Etudes Faciles, Op. 318. Two contrasting solo works illustrating different styles and techniques, at least one work to be performed from memory. Sight reading.

HARPSICHORD

A minimum of two compositions to be selected from two of the following four categories with at least one piece memorized: 1) English School-Elizabethan Virginalists: Henry Purcell, Suites; Thomas Arne, Sonatas; movements from Handel, Suites. 2) French School: Movements from the suites of Louis Couperin, François Couperin, Jean-Phillipe Rameau. 3) Italian-Spanish School: Frescobaldi, Dances and Variations; Scarlatti, Sonatas. 4) German School: J.S. Bach, Inventions and Sinfonias, a movement from a Suite or Prelude and Fugue. If a harpsichord is unavailable, the audition may be performed on piano.

HORN

Mozart, Concertos Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4; Corelli, Sonatas; F. Strauss, Concerto; Beethoven, Sonata; Bozza, En Forêt; Hindemith, Sonata; Jacob, Concerto; Glière, Concerto; R. Strauss, Concertos Nos. 1, 2; Dukas, Villanelle; Wilder, Sonata No. 4; Schumann, Adagio-Allegro; Heiden, Sonata.

OBOE

Telemann, Six Partitas; Handel, Sonatas and Concertos; Cimarosa, Concerto; Marcello, Concerto in C Minor; Nielsen, Romance; Schumann, Three Romances; Mozart, Concerto; Haydn, Concerto; Telemann, Concerto in D Major; Hindemith, Sonata.

PERCUSSION

Snare solos and multiple percussion solos: Colgrass, Gauger, Petercsak, Firth, Albright, Cirone, Payson. Mallet solos for keyboard percussion instruments: Bach, Musser, Stout, Peters. Timpani solos: Price, Noak, Beck, Tcherepnine, McKenzie, Jones, Bergamo, Williams. Substitutions can be made from the Grade V and VI lists in the NYSSMA Manual.

PIANO

Students auditioning for Piano Performance will perform from memory four works for solo piano including: 1) a Three Part Invention or a  Prelude and Fugue from the Well Tempered Clavier of J.S. Bach, 2) the first movement of a classical sonata by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven or Clementi  3) any work of Chopin, Liszt, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, or Scriabin 4) a work by an impressionist or 20th century composer.

SAXOPHONE

An etude and at least two contrasting works from the following: J.S. Bach, Sonata No. 4, Sonata No. 6; Bozza, Improvisation and Caprice; Creston, Concerto or Sonata; Eccles, Sonata; Fasch, Sonata; Glazounov, Concerto; Handel, Sonatas Nos. 2, 3, 4 or 6; Heiden, Sonata; Lantier, Sicilienne; Maurice, Tableaux de Provence; Milhaud, Scaramouche; Rueff, Chanson et Passepied; Tcherepnine, Sonata Sportive; Whitney, Rumba.

TROMBONE

Guilmant, Morceau Symphonique; Galliard, Six Sonatas; Marcello, Sonatas; Barat, Andante and Allegro; White, Sonata; Giffels, Sonata; Presser, Sonatina; Tuthill, Fantasy Piece; Shostakovich, Four Preludes; Hindemith, Sonata; Davison, Sonata; Jacob, Concerto.

TRUMPET

Corelli, Sonata No. 8; Balay, Prelude et Ballade; Albonini, Sonata in C; Handel, Sonata for Trumpet; Kennan, Sonata; Hartley, Sonatina; Hummel, Concerto; Haydn, Concerto; Hindemith, Sonata.

TUBA (for Euphonium, please see above)

Hindemith, Sonate; Vaughan Williams, Concerto; Capuzzi, Andante and Rondo; Gregson, Concerto; Lebdev, Concerto in One Movement; Marcello, Sonatas; Wilder, Suite No. 1; Hartley, Suite; Persichetti, Sernade No. 12; Vivaldi, Sonatas

VIOLA

Please prepare two contrasting works, a three-octave scale in major and melodic minor, and be prepared to perform short sight-reading and sight-singing excerpts.  Appropriate repertoire includes concertos by J.C. Bach, Bartok, Bloch, Handel, Hindemith, Hoffmeister, Hummel, Stamitz, Vaughan Williams or Walton, sonatas by Bloch, Brahms, Clarke, Hindemith, Hummel, Marcello, Marais, Milhaud, Shostakovitch, or Vivaldi, or any movement of a solo suite by J.S. Bach or Telemann.

VIOLIN

A movement of a sonata by Handel, Corelli, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms. Concerti by J.S. Bach, Mozart, Bruch, Mendelssohn, Lalo and/or unaccompanied Sonatas and Partitas by J.S. Bach. Other concertos and short solo pieces of comparable difficulty also are acceptable.

VOICE

Office of Admissions
The State University of New York at Potsdam
44 Pierrepont Avenue
Potsdam, NY 13676

Voice: (315) 267-2180
E-mail: admissions@potsdam.edu

Office of Music Admissions
The Crane School of Music
The State University of New York at Potsdam
44 Pierrepont Avenue
Potsdam, NY 13676

Voice: (315) 267-2775
E-mail: crane@potsdam.edu