Percussion and Drumline

Online Audition Material

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Audition Procedures/Materials

Please be sure to complete the scholarship/award application form and paste a link to your YouTube video after auditioning.  You may complete this form and audition before being officially accepted into the university.  Just complete the information you currently know.

This audition will:

  • Serve as your entrance audition into the music performance or music education degree programs and as your audition for marching band

  • Or, if you are not majoring in music: serve as your entrance audition for marching band &/or symphonic band

  • This audition will also qualify you for: a) a possible music-major scholarship and/or b) band service awards (provided to every member of the marching band, wind symphony, symphonic band, jazz band, and basketball pep band)

Drumline Only

Please review the Drumline Audition Packet

Greetings prospective member of The Pride of McNeese Drumline! I hope this e-mail finds you safe and sound during these difficult times, and that you and your loved ones are in good health.

"Due to the effects that the current epidemic is having on large gatherings, we have decided not to have our drumline audition on May 9th, but rather move to an online format.  We will do an online audition to become part of the McNeese Drumline (details below), which we would like to receive by May 9th, 2020. This due date is in order to establish numbers as well as scholarships. Instrument placement for each member will be determined as a group on the first day of Round Up (band camp) which is Friday, August 7th, 2020.

For the online audition, we would like for you to submit a video to us demonstrating some specific items from the audition packet. We understand that few people (if any) have access to instruments right now, so a video just demonstrating things on a practice pad is fine. If you have interest in two instruments, please do both requests in the same video.

Video Audition Requirements…

Snare and Tenors – Legatos, Stock N., and HT Rocks

- Tenor players, if you do not have a tenor practice pad, playing the tenor part on a single pad with no crosses or drum movement is fine.

Bass Drum – Legatos (snare drum part), Stock N. (play only the unison parts), and Flow (play just the unison and bass 2 parts).

- For bass drum auditions, please play with a metronome and be sure the metronome is audible in the video.

Cymbals – Legatos (play the unison and bottom parts), Flow (play unison and top cymbal parts), and HT Rocks (play the unison and bottom cymbal parts).

- For cymbal auditions, please play with a metronome and be sure the metronome is audible in the video. You can either play the rhythms with sticks on a pad or other surface or clap the rhythms.

NOTE: For bass drum and cymbal parts, rhythms that are notated on the middle line are unison, so those rhythms should be played in addition to any split part.

Beyond the video and audition days in August, we plan on having some mini-camp days in the summer depending on how the current health situation evolves. Announcements about that will be coming at a later date as things unfold.

Thank you for your patience during these crazy times. If you have any questions about the process, please do not hesitate to e-mail me back at this address. If you have issues with submitting a video audition, let me know and we will see if we can find a work-around.

I hope you all stay safe and looking forward to working with you all in August!

Percussionists Majoring in MUSIC EDUCATION or MUSIC PERFORMANCE

Please play:

  • One mallet solo of music of your choosing. Performing this excerpt should indicate your level of experience on mallet percussion.

  • One snare drum etude, solo, or other piece of music of your choosing. This should indicate your

    level of experience on snare drum.

    • The above prepared pieces can be cuts from honor band or all-state audition material, etudes from lesson books, excerpts from solos, or even music from your concert band folder. Generally, many students use their honor band, all-region or all-state audition music, because they already know it well and it covers these requirements for us:

  • Scales: Any two major scales 2 octaves.

  • Sight Reading (if in person)