Bachelor of Music

All of the materials listed below must be received by the December 1st deadline. Any application not complete by December 1 may be removed from consideration.

Required items:

• USC Undergraduate Application- the following documents will also be submitted online with the USC application:
  • Résumé
  • Repertoire List
  • Statement of Objectives
• Materials to be delivered to USC Admission (click here for the "USC Contact Us" page, then select "USC Office of Admission" to obtain the correct mailing address)
  • Official transcripts
  • SAT or ACT test scores
  • TOEFL score report - required from all applicants for whom English is a second language, regardless of educational background or immigration status
• Prescreen Recording – to be mailed directly to the Thornton Admission Office (see address below)

  USC Thornton Office of Admission
  927 West 35th Street- PIC 212
  Los Angeles, CA 90089-0021

**Please do not send any additional materials to the USC Thornton Office of Admission.

Audition Information

There will be two rounds of auditions. The first round of auditions will be a pre-screening by recording. For the first round a recording must be submitted with the application materials, to be received by the Thornton Admission office no later than December 1st. No recordings submitted after that date will be considered. The recording must contain all of the required repertoire (see below) and may be in CD, DVD, or MP3 format.

The recording must be labeled with the following information:

First and Last Name

Date of Birth

USC ID#

Program to which you are applying (i.e. BM Music Industry: Oboe)

Year you are applying for (i.e. Fall 2010)

Anticipated Class standing (Freshman, Transfer, or Grad)

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. If an applicant who has passed the first round cannot be accommodated in a live audition, that applicant’s audition recording will be considered in lieu of a live audition. The only exceptions to this are DMA applicants who must audition in person.

IMPORTANT NOTE: 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.

Repertoire

Four pieces, all memorized:

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

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 CD/DVD AND for the live audition, will not be permitted to perform a live audition nor offered admission to the program.

Bachelor of Arts in Music (with an Emphasis in Piano)

All of the materials listed below must be received by the December 1st deadline. Any application not complete by December 1 may be removed from consideration.

Required items:

• USC Undergraduate Application- the following documents will also be submitted online with the USC application:
  • Résumé
  • Repertoire List
  • Statement of Objectives
• Materials to be delivered to USC Admission (click here for the "USC Contact Us" page, then select "USC Office of Admission" to obtain the correct mailing address)
  • Official transcripts
  • SAT or ACT test scores
  • TOEFL score report - required from all applicants for whom English is a second language, regardless of educational background or immigration status
• Prescreen Recording – to be mailed directly to the Thornton Admission Office (see address below)

  USC Thornton Office of Admission
  927 West 35th Street- PIC 212
  Los Angeles, CA 90089-0021

**Please do not send any additional materials to the USC Thornton Office of Admission.

Audition Information

There will be two rounds of auditions. The first round of auditions will be a pre-screening by recording. For the first round a recording must be submitted with the application materials, to be received by the Thornton Admission office no later than December 1st. No recordings submitted after that date will be considered. The recording must contain all of the required repertoire (see below) and may be in CD, DVD, or MP3 format.

The recording must be labeled with the following information:

First and Last Name

Date of Birth

USC ID#

Program to which you are applying (i.e. BM Music Industry: Oboe)

Year you are applying for (i.e. Fall 2010)

Anticipated Class standing (Freshman, Transfer, or Grad)

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. If an applicant who has passed the first round cannot be accommodated in a live audition, that applicant’s audition recording will be considered in lieu of a live audition. The only exceptions to this are DMA applicants who must audition in person.

IMPORTANT NOTE: 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.

Repertoire

Three pieces from different musical eras in contrasting styles, all memorized.

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 CD/DVD AND for the live audition, will not be permitted to perform a live audition nor offered admission to the program.

Minor in Musical Studies (Piano Emphasis)

Audition Information

Auditions for the Minor in Musical Studies (Piano Emphasis) are held at the end of each semester during Non-Major Piano Juries. These auditions are always live and no recording of any type may be substituted.

Repertoire

Two pieces from different musical eras in contrasting styles, both memorized.

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 described above and according to these guidelines will not be permitted to perform a live audition nor offered admission to the program.

Graduate Certificate, Master of Music

All of the materials listed below must be received by the December 1st deadline. Any application not complete by December 1 may be removed from consideration.

Required items:

• USC Graduate Application to be submitted with the following documents online
• Résumé
• Repertoire List
• Statement of Objectives
• 1-3 Letters of Recommendation (see the USC online application for instructions on how to submit)
• Materials to be delivered to USC Admission (click here for the correct mailing address)
  • Official transcripts
  • TOEFL score report - required from all MM applicants for whom English is a second language, regardless of educational background or immigration status
• Prescreen Recording – to be mailed directly to the Thornton Admission Office (see address below)

USC Thornton Office of Admission
927 West 35th Street- PIC 212
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0021

**Please do not send any additional materials to the USC Thornton Office of Admission.

Audition Information

There will be two rounds of auditions. The first round of auditions will be a pre-screening by recording. For the first round a recording must be submitted with the application materials, to be received by the Thornton Admission office no later than December 1st. No recordings submitted after that date will be considered. The recording must contain all of the required repertoire (see below) and may be in CD, DVD, or MP3 format.

The recording must be labeled with the following information:

First and Last Name

Date of Birth

USC ID#

Program to which you are applying (i.e. BM Music Industry: Oboe)

Year you are applying for (i.e. Fall 2010)

Anticipated Class standing (Freshman, Transfer, or Grad)

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. If an applicant who has passed the first round cannot be accommodated in a live audition, that applicant’s audition recording will be considered in lieu of a live audition. The only exceptions to this are DMA applicants who must audition in person.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Applicants 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.

Repertoire

Five pieces, all memorized:

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

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 CD/DVD AND for the live audition, will not be permitted to perform a live audition nor offered admission to the program.

Harpsichord

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

Doctor of Musical Arts

All of the materials listed below must be received by the December 1st deadline. Any application not complete by December 1 may be removed from consideration.

Required items:

• USC Graduate Application to be submitted with the following documents online
• Résumé
• Repertoire List
• Statement of Objectives
• 1-3 Letters of Recommendation (see the USC online application for instructions on how to submit)
• Materials to be delivered to USC Admission (click here for the correct mailing address)
  • Official transcripts
  • GRE score report (general test only)
  • TOEFL score report - required from all applicants for whom English is a second language, regardless of educational background or immigration status
• Prescreen Recording – to be mailed directly to the Thornton Admission Office (see address below)

USC Thornton Office of Admission
927 West 35th Street- PIC 212
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0021

**Please do not send any additional materials to the USC Thornton Office of Admission.

Audition Information

There will be two rounds of auditions. The first round of auditions will be a pre-screening by recording. For the first round a recording must be submitted with the application materials, to be received by the Thornton Admission office no later than December 1st. No recordings submitted after that date will be considered. The recording must contain all of the required repertoire (see below) and may be in CD, DVD, or MP3 format.

The recording must be labeled with the following information:

First and Last Name

Date of Birth

USC ID#

Program to which you are applying (i.e. BM Music Industry: Oboe)

Year you are applying for (i.e. Fall 2010)

Anticipated Class standing (Freshman, Transfer, or Grad)

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 for pre-screening. All DMA applicants who pass the first round must perform a live audition in order to be fully considered for admission to the program. If a DMA applicant who has passed the first round is for some reason not able to perform the live audition as assigned by the Thornton School, his/her application will under most circumstances be withdrawn from consideration. A taped submission will not be considered in lieu of a live audition for DMA applicants.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Applicants 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.

Repertoire

A live audition at the Thornton School of Music will be required of all applicants who pass the pre-screening round. For the pre-screening recording and the live audition, 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 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 CD/DVD AND for the live audition, will not be permitted to perform a live audition nor offered admission to the program.

Harpsichord

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