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Jazz Studies Audition Requirements

Important note: This page applies to jazz instrumentalist applicants (saxophone, piano, acoustic bass, and jazz drummers). Applicants planning to audition for classical piano, classical percussion or classical bass should refer to those pages, which are linked from the main auditions page.

About the Jazz Studies audition process

UCI Jazz Studies auditions are multi-dimensional. They are designed with two goals in mind. 

The first goal of this process is to help us evaluate your current knowledge and skills, and to determine whether you have the foundation necessary to succeed in our program. We realize that the audition process might be overwhelming, but we encourage you to relax and to not feel pressure to perform perfectly. Mistakes are part of both life and jazz, and if you simply do your best, we will be able to evaluate whether you currently have the skills required to enter our program.

The second goal of the audition process is to help us understand your overall creative and artistic aptitude, why you are interested in studying jazz in depth, what this music means to you, and what your longer term goals and aspirations are within music (or beyond). The second round in-person audition includes an interview portion so that we can hear your thoughts on some of these topics. We'll also explain our program's unique strengths and the differences between the BA and BMus degree. You'll have a chance to ask us questions, and if you are later offered admission, you'll have additional opportunities to get information from the faculty to ensure you can make the right decision for yourself.

Pre-screen 1st round audition requirements (video submission)

Please note that the pre-screen video submission requirements are different for jazz drummers, as noted below.

JAZZ SAX, PIANO, and ACOUSTIC BASS pre-screen 1st round audition requirements

For all 3 video performances detailed below, you must perform with backing tracks, and should perform the compositions from memory. Play the melody and then solo over the form. The solos must be your own, not transcriptions of recordings. Please announce your name and the name of the composition and composer at the start of your video. Your prescreen submission must include 3 videos, as follows:

Video #1: Blues: Perform 3-4 solo choruses of a medium-tempo blues. 

Videos #2 and #3, Jazz Compositions. Choose two jazz compositions written by two different composers from the following list. (Note: Do not choose a blues, since this is covered in the first video.)

  • Louis Armstrong
  • Duke Ellington
  • Charlie Parker
  • Dizzy Gillespie
  • Mary Lou Williams
  • Thelonius Monk
  • Charles Mingus
  • Clifford Brown
  • Sonny Rollins
  • Miles Davis
  • John Coltrane
  • Wayne Shorter
  • Herbie Hancock
  • Toshiko Akiyoshi

JAZZ DRUMS pre-screen 1st round audition requirements

Submit an audition video with the following:
Demonstrate a straight ahead jazz time feel (16 bars)
Demonstrate a jazz waltz time feel (16 bars)
Demonstrate a boss nova and/or sama time feel (16 bars)
Demonstrate a funk time feel
Demonstrate a balad time feel with brushes (8 bars)
Trade 4's with yourself in a jazz (bebop) style: 4 bars of time, 4 bars of improvised soloing (total of 16 bars)

Second round in-person audition requirements

The second round in-person audition/interview will take 20 minutes, and has three main parts:

Part 1: General musicianship and theory knowledge/skills (5 minutes)
We will ask you some questions about music theory (key signatures, scales, modes, spelling chords, etc.) and will also ask you to play some scales or chords. 

Part 2: Sight-reading (5 minutes)
Applicants on sax, piano and acoustic bass will be given a lead sheet and asked to sight-read the melody then solo over the chord symbols. Jazz drum set applicants will be asked to sight-read snare drum music.

Part 3: Interview (10 minutes)
We will ask you questions about the topics noted at the top of this page, and will also tell you briefly about our program and leave you some time to ask us your questions. 

We look forward to meeting you. If you have read this page carefully and still have questions about the audition process, please email Professor Michael Dessen, Jazz Program Coordinator  mdessen@uci.edu 
 

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