Percussion
The percussion program currently has 20 percussion majors which includes
jazz performance majors, music education majors, and performance majors. All the
percussion majors acquire a professional level of performance ability on all of
the percussion instruments. In addition students pursue their particular
interests ranging from jazz (drum set/vibraphone) to classical
(marimba/orchestral percussion). Several of the students have extensive
experience in marching band/drum corps while several are developing their
composition and conducting background. Students are also encouraged to develop
skills and background in a variety of non-western genres such as Cuban and
African music.
Auditions
Auditions generally consist of the following:
- A solo on snare drum
- A solo on keyboard percussion (marimba, vibraphone, or xylophone)
- A solo on tympani
- For drum-set I will ask you to do the following:
- Play time in several styles including swing and Latin styles
- Trade 4,s in several styles
- Play an improvised solo that has a distinct beginning and distinct ending
- Open and closed rolls on snare drum at various dynamic levels
- Sight reading on snare drum and marimba
- Multi-percussion solos are fine but are not required. Since set up is always
an issue, advanced planning with the percussion faculty is always advisable.
It is always a good idea to focus your preparation on your strengths.
Choose solos that will show these qualities off. If you are less experienced in
any of these aspects it is not as important as where your strengths are. If your
solos are long enough it is possible that you may be asked to stop you before
you are finished in order to conserve time, however, most of the time we prefer
to hear the entire solo.
Bring your own mallets and music. We will supply the instruments unless you
prefer to use your own.