Audition Requirements: French Horn
Thank you for your interest in auditioning for the horn studio at Eastern Michigan University. Auditions take the form of a sample lesson and I will ask you to play a prepared solo, an etude from a method book, and scales.
During the audition I make a judgment of your potential for success by assessing the following important musical skills:
Rhythmic skills - Do you have the ability to keep an even pulse and to subdivide?
Aural skills - Can you hear intervals before you play them? Can you sing the music you are playing?
Tone quality (breathing skills) - Do you have a centered and rich tone?
Technique - Do you know fingerings for F and Bb horn for the entire range of the horn? Can you tongue cleanly and quickly? Can you play with smooth slurs? Can you play stopped horn?
Musicality - Do you play beautiful phrases?
Embouchure - Does your embouchure allow you to play in the entire range of the horn? This is last in order, because a faulty embouchures can usually be fixed or improved.
Solo Repertoire
The following repertoire is useful for auditions, but by no means is the only music allowed for auditioning on the horn.
Beethoven - Sonata, Op. 17
Cooke - Rondo in B flat
Mozart - Concertos 1, 2, 3, or 4
Saint-Saëns - Morceau de Concert (Concert Piece)
Franz Strauss - Concerto , Op. 8
R. Strauss - Concerto 1 or 2
Method book - an etude from one of the following:
Kopprasch, Bk I or II
Maxime- Alphonse, Bk. I or II
Mueller - Bk I or II
Pottag - Hovey Bk. II
Scales:
Be prepared to play as many scales as you can for the audition. Please begin now to make major and minor (melodic form) scales part of your daily practice routine. Professor Zirk
For graduate auditions, or if you have questions, please contact me by phone or e-mail: Professor Zirk
Visit the Horn Studio Homepage.
