Scholarships & Auditions
Scholarships
Music scholarships are available to music majors and non-majors and are determined
by a live audition. Learn more at www.obu.edu/band.
Audition Information
Scholarship auditions must include prepared pieces on snare drum, keyboard percussion
and timpani, as well as sight-reading on a keyboard percussion instrument. All-Region
etudes may be performed, but prospective students are encouraged to prepare solos,
pieces or etudes such as those on the list of suggested repertoire below, which represent
the expected level of achievement of incoming percussionists. Regardless of playing
level, audition repertoire should be chosen that showcases your strengths as a musician.
If a solo is lengthy, you may be asked to stop; however, you must be prepared to perform
your prepared pieces in their entirety. Concert snare drums, keyboard percussion instruments,
and timpani are provided, but you should bring your personal sticks and mallets.
Requirement: One concert-style solo or etude
Suggested Repertoire
Method Book Etudes
Cirone: Portraits in Rhythm
Peters: Intermediate Snare Drum Studies
Peters: Advanced Snare Drum Studies
Albright: Contemporary Studies for the Snare Drum
Solos
Warren Benson: Three Dances
Michael Colgrass: Six Unaccompanied Solos for Snare Drum
Guy Gauthreaux: American Suite
Mitch Markovich: The Tornado
Requirement: One two- or four-mallet solo or etude
Suggested Repertoire
Method Book Etudes
Ford: Marimba: Technique Through Performance
Goldenberg: Modern School for Xylophone, Marimba, and Vibes
Kite: Reading Keyboard Percussion Music
Whaley: Musical Studies for the Intermediate Mallet Player
Two-Mallet Solos
J.S. Bach: Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin
G.H. Green: Xylophone Solos (Log Cabin Blues, Ragtime Robin, Charleston Capers, etc.)
Earl Hatch: Furioso and Valse in D Minor
Ross Edwards: First Movement from Marimba Dances
Four-Mallet Solos
Keiko Abe: Frogs
Alice Gomez: Rain Dance
C.O. Musser: Etude in C Major (Op. 6, No. 10)
Mitchell Peters: Yellow After the Rain
Requirement: One solo or etude
Suggested Repertoire
Method Book Etudes
Beck: Concepts for Timpani
Peters: Fundamental Method for Timpani
Goodman: Modern Method for Timpani
Whaley: Musical Studies for the Intermediate Timpanist
Solos
John Beck: Sonata for Timpani
Vic Firth: The Solo Timpanist
Saul Goodman: Ballad for the Dance
Mitchell Peters: Scherzo
Audition Tips
- Start taking lessons with a percussion teacher who can teach you to read music, guide you in learning percussion fundamentals, and help you prepare for your audition.
- Be your best professional self in the audition, and treat it like a job interview by wearing professional attire that tells the faculty you are serious about being an artist and a musician.
- Relax and be honest in your audition so that we can get to know each other as we prepare to work together for the next four years.
- Choose audition pieces that showcase your best musical abilities. It is better for you to perform an easier work well than a difficult piece poorly. Feel free to contact the faculty if you need help picking audition repertoire.
