Keyboard

Piano

The piano audition consists of two parts, the first of which involves review of a CD recording which meets the following requirements.

CD Requirements

  1. Recording must be high-quality audio CD.  DAT, mini-disc, cassette or video recordings will not be accepted.
  2. Pieces must be separated by tracks
  3. The length of the recording must be at least 20 minutes
  4. The CD and the CD case must be  labeled with your name, your degree program, the words “Piano Audition,” and a track listing of selected repertoire
  5. Required Repertoire:
      • A Baroque or Classical work (17th century Beethoven)
      • A Romantic, a 20th Century, or a Contemporary work demonstrating the applicant’s pianistic and artistic ability

The CD recording must be received at the following address by December 1.  Send the recording directly to the School of Music.  Do not mail the audition recording to the Undergraduate Admission office:

Carnegie Mellon School of Music
Office of Recruitment and Enrollment, CFA 108
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA
15213- 3890

The audition CD will not be returned.

The piano faculty will convene during the start of of December to review the CDs. Results of the review will be forwarded in writing at the end of December. If the results of this first audition are favorable, the candidate’s live audition appointment will be honored. Applicants who do not achieve a favorable result following the first audition, and applicants who do not submit an audition recording by December 1 will not be considered for a live audition. Those continuing to the live audition phase should expect a minor adjustment in the audition appointment time.  Candidates will be notified well in advance, and the adjusted time will be confirmed before being finalized.

Live audition requirements:

Candidates who proceed to the live audition phase will be expected to prepare and to meet the following performance requirements:

  1. A polyphonic work (late-Renaissance to contemporary)
  2. One or more movements of a Classical Sonata (J.C. Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Clementi, Beethoven, or Schubert)
  3. A substantial Romantic, 20th-century, or contemporary composition demonstrating the applicant’s pianistic and artistic ability.

Candidates have the option of performing the same pieces for both auditions, though this is not a requirement.  More importantly, the pieces that the candidate lists on the School of Music on-line application are the pieces that should be performed at the live audition.

Organ

The organ audition consists of three parts: