Admission Information

Every applicant for admission must submit:

Applicants to the Osher School of Music graduate programs in conducting must fulfill the following requirements prior to enrollment:

  • A baccalaureate degree or its equivalent in music or music education.
  • An audition (by invitation only; see details below). Music education applicants submit additional materials in lieu of an audition.
  • Music Education applicants need to have completed one year or its equivalent of full-time professional experience.

Music Interview and Portfolio Review

Once the application in the Office of Graduate Admissions is complete, the Osher School of Music Graduate Studies Committee will review the materials and make a recommendation to the School’s coordinator of graduate studies. The respective program advisor will contact applicants selected for interview.

Requirements by area of study

All programs must complete both a University of Southern Maine Graduate Application, and an Osher School of Music Application.

All students must submit the following with their USM Graduate Application:

  • Official transcripts of all previous college and university work
  • Resume
  • Two letters of recommendation
  • 300-500 word essay on your professional goals and how you think this program of study will contribute to these goals.
  • Bachelor’s degree or its equivalent in music or music education

Pre-screening requirements are different for each program and located below. All pre-screening materials should be submitted on the OSOM Application. Should you successfully pass the pre-screening, you will be invited for an in-person audition/interview.

Pre-screening Submissions

  • Scores (where available and appropriate) of three representative works from three different performance media showing originality and technical competence (electronic submission).
  • Recordings (CD, mp3, or url link) of three representative works (to correspond with scores above, if possible).
  • Complete list of works with first performances arranged chronologically.

Audition Requirements

An interview and portfolio review with program faculty.

Pre-screening Submissions

  • A video containing at least fifteen minutes of conducting in both rehearsal and performance settings. Recommended: three excerpts of applicant’s choice *the footage should be unedited and the camera should face the conductor.
  • A representative repertoire of works performed.

Each area of conducting specialty has specific audition requirements outlined below. Acceptance into an area of study is exclusive to that area, and a separate application and audition is required for each area. Due to the intensive and individualized nature of a graduate program in music, admission in specific areas will be limited.

Audition Requirements

Choral Conducting

  • Lead a 12-minute rehearsal with the Osher Chamber Singers assessing:
    • Candidate’s knowledge and preparation of the score
    • Communicative, clear gesture
    • Effective rehearsal technique
  • Conduct “Let Nimrod the Mighty Hunter” from Benjamin Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb
  • Sing two selections of vocal music: one in English and another in a foreign language of the candidate’s choosing
  • Foreign language diction diagnostic
  • Interview with Dr. Nielsen
  • Play a hymn or chorale at the piano of the candidate’s choosing, with a discussion on the harmonic construction of the piece following the playing including solfege analysis.
  • Sight-read a Bach chorale


Instrumental Conducting

  • Prepare the Ralph Vaughan Williams “Folk Song Suite,” know its musical structure, and be able to conduct it and sing any musical line
  • Optional: Perform a five minute piece on an instrument of the applicant’s choice that demonstrates a level of competence equivalent to a Bachelor of Music on that instrument

Orchestral Conducting

  • Prepare the first movement of a Beethoven symphony, know its structure, and be able to conduct it
  • Optional – Perform a five minute piece on an instrument of the applicant’s choice that demonstrates a level of competence equivalent to a Bachelor of Music on that instrument

Pre-screening Submissions

  • A recent recording that contains at least fifteen minutes of a live performance including a demonstration of your improvisational abilities.
  • A representative repertoire of works performed.

Audition Requirements

  • Fifteen-minute performance of jazz repertoire that is diverse in style and shows improvisational abilities.
  • Sight-singing exam.

Pre-screening Submissions

  • An essay of 500-600 words on a topic of music education.

There is no audition for music education. Once the application in the Office of Admissions is complete, the music education program advisor and the School of Music Graduate Studies Committee will review the materials and make a recommendation to the School’s coordinator of graduate studies.

Pre-screening Submissions

  • A representative repertoire list, specifying those works that have been performed.

Each area of conducting specialty has specific audition requirements outlined below. Acceptance into an area of study is exclusive to that area, and a separate application and audition is required for each area. Due to the intensive and individualized nature of a graduate program in music, admission in specific areas will be limited.

Audition Requirements

Piano Pedagogy

  • A performance audition of at least 15 minutes of music containing repertoire that represents various music styles according to the discipline of the student’s applied area.

Vocal Pedagogy

  • A performance audition of at least 15 minutes of music containing repertoire that represents various music styles according to the discipline of the student’s applied area.
  • Preparation of five works of varying languages and styles. Selections must include:
    • Three art songs in three different languages other than English. 
    • One aria or oratorio, in any language. 
    • One piece written by a female or living composer; or one piece written after 1950.
  • Piano Proficiency: Applicants may choose any of the 24 Italian songs, in any key.  Play one page, top and bottom lines together.
  • Perform from memory in English, Italian, and one other language.
  • Demonstrate the ability to play at the piano: I, IV, V, I chord progressions in keys up to three sharps and flats.

(A collaborative pianist will be provided for the graduate voice audition, or the applicants may bring their own pianist. Rehearsals with OSOM provided pianists will be on the day of the audition.)

The Master of Music in Performance has the following concentrations:

  • Organ
  • Percussion
  • Piano
  • Strings
  • Winds
  • Voice

Pre-screening Submissions

  • A representative repertoire list, specifying those works that have been performed.
  • A recent recording of a live performance.
  • Vocal performance applicants must show evidence of completion of two semesters or equivalent of undergraduate Italian and two semesters or equivalent of either undergraduate French or German; show evidence of completion of undergraduate courses in Italian, French, and German diction. Applicants without required semesters of language, and do not demonstrate an alternate form of proficiency, will be required to take languages at the undergraduate level.

Each degree program has specific audition requirements outlined below. Acceptance into an area of study is exclusive to that area, and a separate application and audition is required for each area. Due to the intensive and individualized nature of a graduate program in music, admission in specific areas will be limited.

Audition Requirements

In addition to a sight singing exam taken by all students at the time of audition, specific requirements are:

  • Organ:
    • Perform three major works; one of J. S. Bach and one each from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
    • Sight read an organ composition at the level of a Rheinberger trio.
  • Percussion:
    • Timpani: Play either an étude from Solo Timpanist (Vic Firth) or March (Carter).
    • Drum: Play an étude from the First Twelve Études for Snare Drum (Deleceuse).
    • Mallets: Play a four-mallet solo and three orchestral excerpts
  • Piano:
    • Perform from memory a major work of J. S. Bach (such as a suite, toccata, or prelude and fugue from the Well-Tempered Clavier).
    • Perform a complete sonata by either Haydn, Mozart, or Beethoven.
    • Perform a major work from the nineteenth or twentieth century.
    • Sigh read a piano composition at the level of a Haydn sonata.
  • Strings:
    • Perform the first movement (or equivalent) of a standard concerto (with cadenza).
    • Perform one composition from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
    • Perform two contrasting movements from an unaccompanied work by Bach.
    • It is recommended that at least one of the three excerpts is memorized. Harp and guitar may substitute an advanced étude of their choice for one of the below categories.
  • Winds:
    • Perform a complete concerto or sonata from the Classical era.
    • Perform one composition from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
    • Perform six standard orchestral excerpts.
  • Voice:
    • Perform a twenty minute memorized recital of repertoire from various stylistic periods, including selections in Italian, French, German, and English.
    • Play the following chord progression in up to three sharps and three flats on the piano: I, IV, V, I.