Jazz Trombone Auditions for Admission

All Applicants for Undergraduate and Master's Jazz Trombone Degree Programs must prepare the following for the on-campus audition. Students who are unable to visit campus for the audition may submit an audition video that will be supplemented by a videoconference (Skype or similar app).

For questions about trombone auditions, contact Prof. Nick Finzer at nicholas.finzer@unt.edu.

  • One (1) Bordogni (Rochut) Etude; Unaccompanied from selected numbers 1-60.
  • One selection from the following bebop melodies, at a comfortable tempo for the applicant: Billie's Bounce, Ornithology, Anthropology, Bebop
  • One Medium or Medium-Up Swing tune from the American Songbook (i.e. composed by Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, etc. The original version of the tune should have lyrics.)
  • One jazz ballad performed at a ballad tempo (Quarter note = 60 or slower)
  • One tune with straight eighth-note feel. (i.e. Bossa Nova, Mambo, Jazz-latin, etc.)

Additional Requirements for Master's applicants:

  • Confirmation (Charlie Parker) instead of the Bebop melodies listed above.
  • Optional: one original composition

Each jazz selection should include the melody, at least 2 choruses of improvisation, and the melody out. The ballad should not exceed two choruses total.

For video auditions, there should be no other soloists on each recording. Recordings need not be of professional quality, but should clearly demonstrate the player's musical abilities. Play-along tracks are acceptable for the jazz improvisation portions, but live musicians are preferred. If neither are available, a metronome marking half-notes (sounding on beats 1 and 3 or 2 and 4) is acceptable.

The on-campus audition (or videoconference in the case of video-only auditions) will consist of the above materials, plus:

  • All 12 Major Scales prepared in two octaves
  • A jazz tune in 3/4 time.
  • A jazz transcription of your choice (at least 32 bars, not to exceed 64 bars, this can be an excerpt from a solo) by one of the following soloists: JJ Johnson, Curtis Fuller, Slide Hampton, Frank Rosolino, or Carl Fontana. Students may perform this with our without written music, unaccompanied. Please bring copies for the audition panel.

Undergraduate applicants must play both a classical and a jazz audition. The requirements for the classical audition are published here on the College of Music website.

Master's applicants are not required to play a classical audition.

For information on DMA auditions, see the DMA page.

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