DATES AND AUDITION OPTIONS
2026 Rochester On-Campus Audition Dates:
- Undergraduates: Fridays, February 6th and 20th.
- Graduates: Friday, February 13th.
2026 Remote Audition Option: Finalists will be invited to upload their final audition requirements within their application by February 1st and will also be scheduled for a virtual non-performance meeting with the Professor of Percussion over Zoom in February 2026. Applicants auditioning remotely should record their audition in 2 parts:
- All solo works (including snare drum etudes) in a single take with no edits.
- All excerpts in a single take with no edits.
PRE-SCREENING AND AUDITION REQUIREMENTS
Undergraduate
Undergraduate Pre-screening Requirements: Before December 1st, all undergraduate applicants must upload a preliminary audition video recording. Please submit individual tracks for each piece or etude on your video.
Snare Drum
- Delecluse: Etude #1 from 12 Etudes
- Rudimental Solo
- Long Roll:
Keyboard
- J. S. Bach: 2 mallet work (Single movement from Violin Sonatas and Partitas or Suites for Solo Cello)
- Contemporary 4 mallet work of your choice (a movement or 3 minute excerpt)
Timpani
- Choose one of the following Timpani etudes:
- John Beck: Concepts for Timpani
- Raynor Carroll: Exercises, Etudes and Solos for Timpani
- Hochrainer: Etudes for Timpani (Book 1 or 2)
BM Final Audition Requirements:
All complete works required.
Snare Drum
- Delecluse: Etude #1 from 12 Etudes
- Rudimemtal Solo (John Pratt or Charley Wilcoxon solo preferred)
- Orchestral Excerpt Optional
Keyboard
- J. S. Bach: 2 mallet work (Single movement from Violin Sonatas and Partitas or Suites for Solo Cello)
- Contemporary 4 mallet work of your choice – (complete movements or works not to exceed 10 minutes)
- Suggested Repertoire: Abe – Dream of the Cherry Blossoms, Wind in the Bamboo Grove, Variations on Japanese Childrens Songs; Burritt – October Night, Preludes, Scirrcoco; Moore – Halley’s Comet, Sammut – Rotations, Spirals, Cameleon; Stout – Mexican Dances, Astral Dance, Etudes; Tanaka – Two Movements for Marimba; Miki – Time for Marimba, Alvina Tan – Dansons?, Trevino – Memento
Timpani
- Choose one of the following etudes:
- Raynor Carroll: Brioso
- Hochrainer: Etude #50 from Etuden für Timpani volume 2
- Orchestral Excerpt optional
Graduate
Graduate Pre-Screening Requirements: Before December 1st, all applicants must upload a preliminary audition video recording. Please submit individual tracks for each piece or etude on your video.
Snare Drum
- Delecluse: Etude #9 from 12 Etudes
- Rudimental Solo
- 2 contrasting Orchestral Excerpts
- Long Roll:
Keyboard
- J. S. Bach: 2 mallet work (Single movement from Violin Sonatas and Partitas or Suites for Solo Cello)
- Contemporary 4 mallet work of your choice (a movement(s) or 3-minute excerpt)
Timpani
- Delecluse: Etude #9
- 2 orchestral excerpts optional
Multiple Percussion
- Solo of your choice (3- 5 min excerpt)
Graduate Final Audition Requirements:
Complete works required. There will be no substitutes for the Bach requirement.
Snare Drum
- Delecluse: Etude of your choice
- Rudimemtal Solo
- 2 contrasting orchestral excerpts optional
Keyboard
- J. S. Bach: 2 mallet work (Single movement from Violin Sonatas and Partitas or Suites for Solo Cello)
- Contemporary 4 mallet work of your choice (complete movements or works not to exceed 12 minutes)
- Suggested Repertoire: Abe – Marimba d’Amore, Burritt – Caritas, Scirroco; Druckman – Reflections on the Nature of Water; Etezady – Boomslang; Klatzow – Dances of Earth and Fire; Maslanka – Variations on Lost Love; Sueyoshi – Mirage; Schwantner – Velocities; Stevens – Rhythmic Caprice: Sammut – Cameleon, Stout – Rumble Strips or Sendimental Structures; Thomas – Merlin; Viñao – Khan Variations or Burritt Variations, Mackey – See Ya Thursday, Mantovani – Moi, jeu, Lansky – Three Moves
- 2 contrasting orchestral excerpts on Xylophone optional
Timpani
- Solo of your choice
- 3 contrasting orchestral excerpts optional
Multiple Percussion*
- *There will be no multi-percussion requirement for final audition round