Join us for saxophone auditions

Saxophone

Undergraduate audition day

  • Friday, Feb. 14, 2025

Graduate audition day

  • Friday, Feb. 14, 2025

Undergraduate saxophone auditions

Audition day information

See the submission deadline for undergraduates to file with the School of Music and learn more about Audition Day.

Prescreening

Submit links (audio or video) of the pre-screening materials on the School of Music form. They are due by Jan. 16, 2024. 

  • Time limit: no less than 10 minutes, no longer than 20 minutes
  • Choose five scales, quarter-note = 88 x 4 sixteenths, articulation of your choice
  • Repertoire: two contrasting movements from the same or two different pieces. Unaccompanied works are allowed.
  • Accompanied works must be performed with piano accompaniment (or a pre-recorded track).
  • Judging criteria: tone quality, musicianship, overall control, consistency, and fluency.

Preparation requirements

Auditionees are expected to have had private instruction, but it is not a prerequisite.

Time requirement

No less than 10 minutes, no longer than 20 minutes.

Accompaniment

When pieces with piano are chosen, please bring an accompanist if possible. 

Technical requirements

  • All major and minor scales (as many versions as possible) at a minimum tempo of quarter note = 80 x 4 (sixteenth notes)
  • Chromatic scale
  • Two contrasting solo pieces (one lyrical and one technical) with or without piano. 

Suggested repertoire

Alto/baritone: 

  • Henk Badings: Concerto 
  • Roger Boutry: Divertimento
  • Paul Bonneau:Caprice en forme de valse 
  • Herbert Couf: Introduction, Dance and Furioso
  • Paul Creston: Sonata
  • Alexandre Glazunov: Concerto
  • Ida Gotkovsky: Brillance 
  • Jascha Gurewich: Concerto
  • Walter Hartley: Petite Suite
  • Bernhard Heiden: Sonata
  • Bernhard Heiden: Diversion
  • Jacques Ibert: Concertino da camera 
  • Lawson Lunde: Sonata
  • Paule Maurice: Tableaux de Provence
  • Darius Milhaud: Scaramouche
  • Alfred Reed: Ballade

Tenor 

  • Jules Demersseman: Introduction and Variations
  • James DiPasquale: Sonata
  • Walter Hartley: Poem
  • Jean-Baptiste Singelée: Adagio et Rondo
  • Hector Villa-Lobos: Fantasia

Judging criteria

  • Tone quality,
  • Musicianship
  • Overall control
  • Consistency and fluency
Unfortunately, due to the nature of the audition and number of applicants, we will not be able to provide individual comments. All decisions made will be final.

Scholarship consideration

You are considered for scholarship at the time of audition.

Audition results

You will be notified via formal letter about your audition results and music scholarship results in early March.

Graduate saxophone auditions

Application and audition registration

Please see Graduate Admissions Process for School of Music application and audition registration information.

Prescreening

  • Create a PDF with the links of the pre-screening materials and then upload it directly to the online application using the “Other Application Support Document” and title it “Pre-Screening Document.” 
  • School of Music application and recording must be received no later than January 16, 2024.
  • An email invitation to audition, or otherwise, will be sent after your recording has been reviewed. 

Requirements for the pre-screening recording:

  • Time limit: no less than 10 minutes, no longer than 20 minutes
  • Repertoire: 2 contrasting movements from the same or two different pieces.
  • Unaccompanied works are allowed. Accompanied works must be performed with piano accompaniment (or pre-recorded track).

Preparation requirements

No preparation requirements other than the prescreening. 

Time requirement

No less than 10 minutes, no longer than 20 minutes.

Accompaniment

When pieces with piano are chosen, please bring an accompanist if possible. 

Technical requirements

  • All major and minor scales (extended to altissimo range if possible) at a minimum tempo of quarter note = 120 x 4 (sixteenth notes).
  • Chromatic scale, diminished scales, and whole-tone scales.
  • Two contrasting solo pieces (one lyrical and one technical) with or without piano. 

Sample repertoire

Soprano 

  • Luciano Berio: Sequenza VIIb
  • David Canfield: Sonata
  • Thierry Escaich: Le chant des tenebres
  • Jindrich Feld: Sonata 
  • Jindrich Feld: Elegie
  • Pedro Iturralde: Suite Hellenique
  • Or any baroque transcriptions

Alto 

  • Warren Benson: Aeolian Song
  • Luciano Berio: Sequenza IXb
  • David Canfield: Sonata
  • Jacques Charpentier: Gavambodi II
  • Paul Creston: Concerto 
  • Ingolf Dahl: Concerto
  • Alfred Desenclos: Prelude, cadence et finale
  • Jindrich Feld: Sonata
  • Jindrich Feld: Suite Rhapsodica
  • Ida Gotkovsky: Variations Pathetiques
  • Karel Husa: Elegie et Rondeau
  • Lars-Erik Larsson: Concerto
  • Christian Lauba: an etude of your choice
  • Frank Martin: Ballade
  • Robert Muczynski: Sonata
  • Robert Muczynski: Concerto
  • Lucie Robert: Cadenza
  • John C. Worley: Sonata

Tenor

  • Michael Cunningham: Trigon, Op. 31
  • Morton Gould: Diversions
  • Christian Lauba: an etude of your choice
  • Frank Martin: Ballade
  • Leon Stein: Sonata
  • Robert Ward: Concerto
  • John C. Worley: September Sonata

Baritone 

  • J. S. Bach: Six Suites for Cello
  • David Canfield: Sonata
  • Michael Cunningham: Sonata
  • Walter Hartley: Sonata
  • Christian Lauba: an etude of your choice
  • John C. Worley: Sonatina

Judging criteria

  • Tone quality,
  • Musicianship
  • Overall control
  • Consistency 
  • Fluency
Unfortunately, due to the nature of the audition and number of applicants, we will not be able to provide individual comments. All decisions made will be final.

Audition results

You will be notified via formal letter about your audition results in early March.

Acceptance rate

The number of students accepted each year is determined by the needs of the studio, which are ever-changing due to the size of the graduating class and other factors.

Questions?

Kenneth Tse

Kenneth Tse

Title/Position
University of Iowa Distinguished Chair
Saxophone
Professor