Bachelor of Music (BM) or Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Master of Music (MM) or Graduate Certificate (GCRT)
Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA)

If you are planning to apply to the Artist Diploma program please follow the audition requirements on the Artist Diploma page.

***IMPORTANT NOTE: The Thornton Prescreen Information Form is REQUIRED for this program. See below for more details.***

Applicants to programs in Piano must submit an audition recording (DVD format only) to be pre-screened by the faculty. The results of this pre-screen will determine whether an applicant will be invited to perform a live audition on the USC campus in Los Angeles. Recordings must be received by the December 1st deadline. Any application not complete by December 1 will be removed from consideration. Using a permanent marker, please label the actual DVD itself with the following information (the case that the DVD comes in will be removed during processing):

• First and Last Name
• Date of Birth
• Program to which you are applying (i.e., BM Keyboard Studies)
• Year you are applying for (i.e., Fall 2013)

The prescreen recording MUST be accompanied by a completed Thornton Prescreen Information Form. Both the recording and the form should be mailed directly to the Thornton Admission Office (not the USC Admission Office):

Mailing Address:
(for United States Postal Service only)

Classical Piano Admission Review
USC Thornton School of Music
Office of Admission
University Park Campus- LPB 200
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0851

Street Address:
(for private mail carriers only- e.g., Fed Ex, UPS, etc.)

Classical Piano Admission Review
USC Thornton School of Music
Office of Admission
3450 Watt Way- LPB 200
Los Angeles, CA 90089

Please Note: Current USC Thornton students applying for a graduate program are not required to submit a prescreen recording, however they must indicate on the application that they are a current Thornton student or they will not automatically be scheduled for a live audition. Current USC students are encouraged to contact Kit Bellamy in the Thornton Admission office with any questions or concerns regarding audition scheduling.

AUDITION REQUIREMENTS

The required repertoire is the same for both the prescreen recording and the live audition, and should include the following works entirely from memory:

• Bachelor of Arts
• Three pieces in contrasting style

• Bachelor of Music
1. Baroque - a Prelude and Fugue by J. S. Bach from the Well-Tempered Clavier
2. Classical - a complete multi-movement sonata by a classical composer, up to and including Schubert, but excluding Beethoven opus 49 and 79
3. One piece from the Romantic, Impressionistic or Contemporary repertoire
4. An etude

• Master of Music and Graduate Certificate
1. A Prelude and Fugue by J. S. Bach from the Well-Tempered Clavier
2. A complete sonata by Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, or Beethoven, excluding Beethoven opus 49 & 79
3. A complete work of a 19th-century composer
4. One piece or single movement by a contemporary composer
5. An etude of virtuosity at the level of those by Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Debussy, Bartok, Stravinsky or Ligeti

• Doctor of Musical Arts
• Applicants must prepare a full-length (60 minute minimum), memorized recital, which includes works from at least four contrasting style periods, including a contemporary work. In addition, pianists must present from memory an etude of virtuosity at the level of those by Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Debussy, Bartok, Stravinsky or Ligeti. Applicants should also be prepared for sight-reading and an interview as part of their second-round, live audition. All second-round, live DMA piano auditions will be 30 minutes in length.

All pieces on the DVD recording MUST be indicated with a separate track, and a complete list of the recorded contents must be included on the recording sleeve or a slip of paper placed inside the recording sleeve. The entire recording should be recorded in a single session as if the applicant were performing a live audition.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• Those applicants who pass the pre-screening round will be invited to campus for a live audition as the second round. Live auditions will be scheduled until filled in the order the audition recording was received. Applicants located within 100 mile radius of USC are required to audition live in person. If an applicant who has passed the first round cannot be accommodated in a live audition (outside of the 100 mile radius), that applicant must contact the Thornton Admission office at (213) 740-8986 to request that their pre-screen DVD recording be considered in lieu of a live audition (Note: CD pre-screen recordings cannot be used as a final audition.) DMA applicants must perform a live audition.
• All applicants should carefully note that no concerti will be accepted as audition pieces and that all audition pieces MUST be memorized. Persons failing to prepare the full audition program following the guidelines described above on both the prescreen recording AND for the live audition, will not be permitted to perform a live audition nor offered admission to the program.
• Current USC undergraduates auditioning for the Master's degree can use their recital or jury as the audition, however current USC Master's students auditioning for the Doctoral degree must audition on a scheduled audition day.
• IMPORTANT NOTE: Applicants for spring admission are not required to submit a recording for pre-screening, however undergraduate applications are not accepted for Spring admission to this program unless the applicant is already enrolled at USC. Current USC students for spring admission are not required to submit a recording for pre-screening. Spring applicants must contact the Keyboard Studies department directly at (213) 740-7703 to arrange for an audition.

Harpsichord

Applicants wishing to study harpsichord should refer to the early music program requirements for information regarding entrance requirements.