Crane Admissions

See The Crane School of Music for yourself at one of our on-campus audition days!

All prospective students and families get to tour the Crane complex, meet with current students, ask questions at our information sessions, and find out more about our programs from faculty. You also have the option to tour the full SUNY Potsdam campus after your audition. View the full auditions day schedule here.

Hotel Rooms:

We know that traveling to campus can be a significant expense for some students and their families.To help offset travel costs, we are happy to announce that we are able to provide free hotel rooms for a limited number of auditioning students. More information about this will be posted when the audition registration form goes live in August. 

On-Campus Audition Dates

• Saturday, December 9, 2023 (last day to register: Sunday, November 26)
• Saturday, February 3, 2024 (last day to register: Sunday, January 21)
• Saturday, March 2, 2024 (last day to register: Sunday, February 18)

Directions to the Crane School of Music

Important notes:

• All auditioning students will be considered for music scholarships.
• There is no registration fee for on-campus auditions.
• Crane will provide an accompanist for all vocal auditions for a $30 non-refundable fee. 
• If you need to cancel or change your audition date, please notify Crane as soon as possible. Late cancelations and no-shows affect other students, faculty and staff adversely.
• Crane does not pre-screen auditions.
• Following your audition, results are mailed to students and typically arrive within two weeks.

Can’t make it to The Crane School of Music?
Consider an off-campus audition.

There is a $50 non-refundable registration fee for off-campus auditions. Crane will provide an accompanist for all vocal auditions for a $30 non-refundable fee.

Piano students can only audition in New York City (on February 23), or on campus, or by video.
Percussion and harp students cannot audition off-campus; students auditioning on these instruments must audition on campus or by video.

The last day to register for all off-campus audition dates is Sunday, February 11, 2024.

The dates and locations below are tentative. These sites will be finalized over the summer.

Long Island - Mineola High School (Garden City, NY)
Thursday, February 22, 2024
Directions

New York City - Grand Street High School (Brooklyn, NY)
Friday, February 23, 2024
Directions

Off Campus Auditions (see below for details): Thursday, February 22 and Friday, February 23, 2024 (last day to register: Sunday, February 11)

Important notes:

• All auditioning students will be considered for music scholarships.
• If you need to cancel or change your audition date, please notify Crane as soon as possible. Late cancelations and no-shows affect other students, faculty and staff adversely.
• Crane does not pre-screen auditions.
• Following your audition, results are mailed to students and typically arrive within two weeks.

Not able to make it to one of our audition sites?

The Crane School of Music provides a video audition option for students who cannot otherwise attend a live audition at one of our audition sites. Students auditioning by video should expect to also have a short virtual (Zoom) meeting with the appropriate applied studio faculty (who will reach out to set those up). 

Video Submission Guidelines

• You must fill out the registration form and submit your video links before the registration deadline (see below). Your will submit your video links  as part of filling out the registration form.
• Crane accepts video auditions by YouTube link (preferred) or linked services. Do not try to send us your audition video - we only want a link to it. If you are using a file sharing platform, make sure your file permits anyone to view it. Do not create a situation where faculty need to request permission to view your video or need a password. 
• Submit a separate link for each piece. 
• Please include your name, the full title of the work and full name of the composer of the work in your video (either spoken before the performance, or included as text). 
• Please make sure your video is of a high quality and is as close to a live performance as possible. Do not use a close microphone. Do not use any audio processing. 
• Because pianists and vocalists are required to perform from memory, frame the video so it is clear the auditioning student is not reading from music.  
• The video should be framed so we can see your entire body. Vocalists, for example, should be visible from head-to-toe.
• Please keep your links active until April 1st. Faculty may need to review your video after your audition as they make decisions about music scholarships. 
• Only vocal auditions need to have piano accompaniment. If you are vocal student, and are unable to record with a live accompaniment, you can use a prerecorded piano part. You can also make a request for an Crane alumni pianist, through our alumni association; if there is an alumni volunteer in your area, we will connect you to them. As this takes time, please give us adequate time to set this up. Contact auditions@potsdam.edu with these requests. 
• While you can certainly record multiple takes of your audition pieces, please only provide us with one version of each one. For each piece or movement, the recording should be continuous. Do not cut and paste different takes for any single piece/movement/song.  
• We cannot accept audio-only audition recordings (CD, mp3, etc.)

Video submission deadlines

• For spring 2024 admission, the last day to submit your video links is Sunday, November 26, 2023
• For fall 2024 admission:
  • The regular deadline to submit your videos links is Thursday, February 15, 2024. Students submitting video links by this date will be fully considered for music scholarships.
  • The last day to register and submit your video links is Thursday, February 29, 2024.

Important notes:

• All auditioning students will be considered for music scholarships, but for full consideration for these awards, make sure to submit your video auditions  no later than February 15, 2024. 
• Crane does not pre-screen auditions.
• Following receipt of your video(s), audition results are usually mailed to students about a week after the next scheduled on-campus audition day.

Are you interested in pursuing our Bachelor of Music degree program in musical studies with an emphasis in composition? We want to hear your work!

In addition to completing your performance audition, you must also submit a portfolio of your original works to be considered for the composition program. Submit two or three original scores of contrasting character that best highlight your creativity and potential for compositional growth.

Important notes:

• Scores can be submitted as Finale or Sibelius files, or in PDF format.
• Live recordings are encouraged, but not required. Recordings should be submitted in MP3, WAV or AIFF formats. Audio files larger than 5 MB may be submitted via Dropbox or posted to a site like SoundCloud.
• Materials should arrive by the audition registration deadlines noted above. 
• Questions and email submissions should be directed to Dr. Timothy Sullivan at sullivtr@potsdam.edu.