The Institute of Music

Compose your future.

Whether you plan to major in music or participate as a non-major, we are excited to get to know you and learn more about your goals and interests.

All auditions for DePauw University, for both majors and non-majors, are completed through the upload of a recorded audition video. Prior to uploading an audition, students must apply for admission to DePauw.

Audition videos may be submitted between October 1 and April 1.

Audition and Scholarship Information

DePauw grants music scholarships and lesson fee waivers to auditionees who demonstrate exceptional talent during an audition for music faculty. Music scholarships vary in amount, may be combined with University Merit Awards, and are limited to tuition expenses only.

Please prepare two or three contrasting works (around 10-15 minutes total) that demonstrate your musicality, technique, and individual artistic interest.

Instrumentalists: Works can include solo works, etudes, and/or orchestral excerpts.
Percussionists: Works should be across snare drum, keyboard percussion (marimba, xylophone, or vibraphone), and/or other percussion areas (such as timpani, drum set, or multiple percussion).
Vocalists: Works can include solo works, art songs, arias, etudes, excerpts, etc.

The DePauw music faculty wants you to look and sound the best you can!

To make your video recording, it is recommended that you consider the following guidelines:

Find a relatively quiet room with minimal distractions. This will help you focus on performing your repertoire and will produce a clean recording.
Be sure that your head and upper torso are comfortably contained in the viewing frame.
Your recording should not include other musicians, unless your repertoire has a piano accompaniment.
Take note of how much light is in your shot. Too much light will create a washed out effect, while too little light will produce a shot that is too dark.
Be sure that your audio levels are neither too loud nor too soft. Do some test runs to determine a good level. You may need to move your recording device closer or farther away from your instrument or voice.
- In the settings menu on your phone, be sure that your video settings are set to a minimum standard of 1080p HD at 30 fps (or faster). Your phone will probably default to this setting but it would be good to double check to be sure. Also, check the Settings menu to be sure that Record Stereo Sound is selected.
At the beginning of your recording, please say your full name and the titles and composers of the pieces you’ll be performing.
If you can, edit out everything except your name, repertoire and actual performance. If you do not have access to software tools to do this, no worries, just try to reduce the moments before your name and after your performance with minimal time in between your pieces.

We support media files as large as 5GB, but please be advised that larger files will take longer to upload from your Internet connection and may stall if you are on a wireless connection or one that cannot sustain a connection for the necessary period of time. We support the following file formats:

Video: .3g2, .3gp, .avi, .m2v, .m4v, .mkv, .mov, .mpeg, .mpg, .mp4, .mxf, .webm, .wmv
Link: If your audition is hosted on an online platform such as YouTube, you will be able to upload it using that link.