Music Department

Jazz Audition Requirements

Do your feelings, ideas, and inspiration naturally become rhythm, sound, and melody? Musicians at Idyllwild Arts refine their technique with the guidance of our world-renowned faculty, exploring this powerful medium for storytelling and cultural expression. Our pre-professional training curriculum instills the discipline, skills, and confidence that transform raw talent into endless opportunity.

Requirements

We encourage candidates for the Music major to send an online submission containing the specific requirements below.  YouTube links are highly preferable whenever able.  Live, on-campus auditions are possible, subject to departmental availability.

All Jazz applicants must submit:

For auditions we are interested in seeing the applicant’s level of accomplishment and musical knowledge. Using backing tracks or a rhythm section is strongly encouraged, but not required. Solo choruses are required to demonstrate current improvisational ability. Please submit one prepared piece from each of the following:

• Blues (Billie’s Bounce, Tenor Madness, etc.)
• Jazz Standard (Four, Groovin’ High, etc.)
• Great American Songbook Standard (All The Things You Are, Days Of Wine And Roses, etc.)

Also, applicants are asked to demonstrate knowledge of scales, inversions, chords, and voicings. Live auditions are possible with departmental availability. Backing tracks may be available but bringing your own is recommended. A rhythm section will not be provided. Please direct any questions about repertoire to Admission.

For any questions, please contact admissionteam@idyllwildarts.org.

Submission Guidelines

Submissions should be uploaded to a file sharing/hosting site such as Google Drive, Dropbox, YouTube, Vimeo, etc. Copy and paste the link(s) to your submission(s) in your application in the relevant field. Please be sure to set your permissions to allow us to view your files.

For those submitting several works, please either combine them all into a single file (such as a PDF or Powerpoint) or add them all to a folder in your chosen file hosting site and submit the link to the folder rather than submitting links to each item individually.

Admission Policy

Idyllwild Arts Academy admits students of any sex, race, religion, color, national and ethnic origin, sexual orientation, or gender identification to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, religion, color, national and ethnic origin, sexual orientation, or gender identification in administration of its educational policies, scholarship and financial planning, and athletic and other school-administered programs.