When it comes to college music auditions, your solo performance isn’t just a part of the process — it’s the main event. Recruiters often say it’s the single most important part of your audition. This is where you show not just how well you can play or sing, but who you are as a musician.

The right solo lets you demonstrate your technique, your style, and your understanding of the music’s history and emotion. Picking it wisely — and performing it powerfully — can make the difference between an ordinary audition and an unforgettable one.

Do Your Homework: Know the Requirements

Every music school has its own audition requirements, and they aren’t all the same. Some simply ask for two or three solos in contrasting styles. Others get very specific, like requiring two contrasting movements from Baroque or Classical pieces, plus one more of your choice.

A few examples:

• University of Texas, Butler School of Music (Clarinet):
  – Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K.622 – 1st movement
  – A second piece of the applicant’s choosing from the grade six solo repertoire.
• Oberlin Conservatory (Clarinet):
  – Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K.622 – 1st movement
  – Stravinsky’s Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet, Movement II
• Eastman School of Music (Clarinet):
  – Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K.622 (measures 57 to 154)
  – Debussy’s Première Rhapsodie or another French concours solo
  – A solo work of your choice

Some schools — like Juilliard — even require you to submit your entire repertoire list before they’ll give you an audition date. They expect you to be serious, prepared, and ready to show what you’ve got.

Choose Smart — Not Just Hard

Sure, impressive repertoire matters. But here’s the truth: Performing a less difficult piece beautifully is better than stumbling through a harder one.

You might be tempted to pick the hardest piece you know. Resist that urge. Choose something that highlights your best skills — tone, phrasing, expression — not just your speed or range.

Recruiters want to see musicality, not a technical tightrope act.

Consider this:

It was the most important day of her life — the final round of a world-renowned opera competition. After three grueling days and four rounds of auditions, only five singers remained. Each finalist sang flawlessly, showcasing arias famous for their technical difficulty.

She was the last to perform. Stepping onto the stage, she made a bold decision. She dismissed her accompanist, faced the judges, and quietly announced:

“I’ll be singing my grandmother’s favorite hymn, My Shepherd Will Supply My Need.”

No orchestra. No piano. Just her voice.

She began — pure, unaccompanied, and heartbreakingly sincere. As she reached the final lines, she repeated them — once, twice, and a third time, her voice growing softer with each phrase, tears slipping down her face:
“Oh, may Thy house…”
“Oh, may Thy house…”
“Oh, may Thy house be my abode, and all my work be praise.”

When she finished, silence blanketed the hall. No one moved. No one breathed. In those four minutes, she hadn’t just sung — she had created a moment.

Later that night, she was crowned the winner.

Yes, technique impresses. However, musicality transforms.

Your Goal: Create a Moment

When you audition, don’t just aim to “get through” your piece. Create something real. Something moving.

Final Thought

Every note you practice, every hour you spend refining your skills — it’s all building toward a moment far bigger than a performance. It’s building toward a moment where technique and emotion meet, where your hard work becomes art, and where all the years of discipline give way to a few precious minutes that can define your future.

It’s easy to think auditions are about perfection — hitting every note, showing off your most difficult piece, dazzling with speed or power. But the truth is, auditions aren’t won by perfection alone. They’re won by connection.

The judges won’t remember every technical detail. But they will remember how you made them feel. They will remember the courage it took to pour your soul into your music, to communicate something deeper than the notes on the page. That’s what sets apart a good audition from a great one.

Your audience — whether it’s a panel of judges or a thousand people in a concert hall — isn’t just listening. They’re waiting to be moved. To be taken somewhere. To experience something real.

And that only happens when you dare to go beyond playing or singing — when you create a moment.

Don’t get lost chasing impossible standards of perfection. Focus on creating an experience only you can deliver — authentic, personal, full of life.

You already have everything you need inside you: your story, your voice, your heart.

Step onto that stage with confidence. Share your music honestly. Trust the preparation. Trust your gift.
Own your moment.