Bachelor of Jazz - Audition suggestions

dphillips26

Junior Member
Hi guys,
I need some help choosing 3 pieces to perform for my audition to get into the bachelor of Jazz degree at a university in Australia.
Their guidelines say that the three pieces should typically illustrate Blues, Latin and Swing standards.

Please, I need some recommendations asap!!

Cheers!

Dave
 
You should play the tunes of those types that are most familiar and comfortable to you. Here are some obvious choices that have nice shape, and should be easy to play with and memorize:

Blues: Billie's Bounce, Blue Monk, Straight No Chaser, Stolen Moments

Latin: Recordame, One Note Samba, St. Thomas, Ceora

Swing: Bye Bye Blackbird, Yesterdays, Softly As In A Morning Sunrise, What Is This Thing Called Love?
 
A funny side note: you could be the one they all remember if you took one song, like "The Rose" and re-arrange it for blues, swing, and latin. I think they'd let you in in a heartbeat ;)

But how does this work? Do you come in with sheet music for a piano player to play? Do you play to recordings? They just want to hear a recording of you playing these types of songs? When I audition for the jazz school at USC it was just me and the instructor and he just asked me to play certain styles and then had me sight-read a few things.

Two weeks later they let me in, provided I could pay the $20,000.00 a year for the experience. I went to state school for something else and studied music on the side ;)
 
Wow, yea I'd love to re-arrange a song but I'm not sure I have the experience to do it well.

Plus, I'm gonna need all the time possible to practise as I've been travelling for the past 6 months and haven't even touched a drum stick :(

The audition paper says: It is recommended that applicants provide their own rhythm sections for accompaniment to give the panel an opportunity to evaluate your interaction with other players. If this is not possible, CD backing tracks are acceptable.

I have a lot of friends in the music scene back home, but probably won't have enough time to get something together. I think it will be backing tracks.

Wow, $20,000 per year. I wouldn't be doing that course either. That's outrageous. Must be a decent school to charge that amount.

Cheers!

Dave
 
Wow, yea I'd love to re-arrange a song but I'm not sure I have the experience to do it well.

Plus, I'm gonna need all the time possible to practise as I've been travelling for the past 6 months and haven't even touched a drum stick :(

The audition paper says: It is recommended that applicants provide their own rhythm sections for accompaniment to give the panel an opportunity to evaluate your interaction with other players. If this is not possible, CD backing tracks are acceptable.

I have a lot of friends in the music scene back home, but probably won't have enough time to get something together. I think it will be backing tracks.

Wow, $20,000 per year. I wouldn't be doing that course either. That's outrageous. Must be a decent school to charge that amount.

Cheers!

Dave

Well, USC is one of those private schools here in the States that everyone thinks is the bees-knees. And that price is what I calculated out over ten years ago! I'm OK with not having gone there...
 
Well known for its jazz program, and has Peter Erskine on staff. Expensive, but probably worth the $ if you are serious and can afford it.
 
Be sure to think through your audition. While your playing should be the focus, you also need to come across as poised, successful and driven. Think about how you will enter the room, exactly what you will say to the examiners, how you will leave the room, etc. Create a checklist that you will go through and practice going through it. Also think about what you will do if things go wrong.

Good luck and let us know how things turn out for you.

GJS
 
Cheers for the advice skulmoski. I've decided to cut my trip short a month to give myself more time to prepare. I really want to get accepted into this degree.

Studying the jazz degree is something I've wanted to do ever since high school days but was always told that it's not a smart idea as there is no guaranteed work at the end of it. Something a lot of people on here have probably heard before.

Now, I'm choosing to follow my heart! But I'm stressing about the audition because I haven't touched a pair of drum sticks in over 6 months as I've been travelling South America. but I've decided that tomorrow, I'm heading to the local music store and getting me a pair of sticks and a practice pad!

Thanks again for all the replys!

Dave
 
Well known for its jazz program, and has Peter Erskine on staff. Expensive, but probably worth the $ if you are serious and can afford it.

Yeah it is. But the fact that even if you're serious that doesn't guarantee you'll get a job playing jazz anywhere, makes the investment a little hard to swallow. I prefer the Tony Williams approach: take private lessons (as he did when he wanted to learn composition) and pick the brains of the pros in the field. Erskine is great, as is the rest of the staff at USC (and other schools), but imagine studying with somebody like Joe Porcaro, Harvey Mason or Larry Bunker - guys who are working in the studios everyday and on everybody's A list of people to call when you need percussionists for your next movie or whatever. Wouldn't that be cool?
 
Okay now my next question...

Does anybody know where I could find some quality backing tracks to use for my audition?

I'm willing to buy if they're not to expensive. I can't find anything useful on the internet.

I'm still deciding which songs to plays, but it all comes down to which backing tracks I can find.

Cheers again for your help!

Dave
 
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