Conservatorium van Amsterdam (Netherlands). Classical applicants pass a video pre-selection and an audition on their main instrument. A theory exam follows. It has a written part in ear training and theory and an oral part in sight-singing and rhythm.
Audition patterns
Live Auditions with Aural and Theory Tests
At these schools the entrance has two parts. You perform for a panel, and you take tests of your ear and your theory. The tests often include dictation, sight-singing and rhythm reading. In dictation you hear music and write it down.
Practice for this pattern is at the end of the page.
Schools that follow this pattern
Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin (Germany). Applicants who pass a recorded pre-selection take audition exams in Berlin. Piano, compositional technique and ear training are compulsory subjects.
Mozarteum University Salzburg (Austria). The entrance exam has an audition on the main instrument. It also has a written and oral test in theory and ear training.
Royal Conservatoire The Hague (Netherlands). Classical piano applicants must pass both a practical part and a theory part.
Codarts Rotterdam (Netherlands). Global Musics applicants give a practical audition with a theory test. Those who pass have an interview.
Royal Academy of Music (London, UK). Candidates who do well enough in the audition have an academic interview. It includes an aural skills assessment with sight-singing, intervals and rhythm reading.
The Juilliard School (US). Piano applicants who reach the live audition also take a written musicianship exam and a skills evaluation on the same day.
University of Toronto Faculty of Music (Canada). Applicants have an interview with a musical skills check. It covers intervals and chords and singing or playing back a melody.
Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (Singapore). Shortlisted applicants spend a day at the school for classes and tests. The tests include a music aptitude test of written basics and ear training. The ear training includes melodic dictation.
Central Conservatory of Music (Beijing, China). The entrance exam runs in rounds at the conservatory. Most programs include an ear training exam with written dictation and sight-singing.
Tokyo University of the Arts (Japan). Most music departments share a basic test of dictation, basic theory (rudiments), sight-singing and rhythm. Each department adds its own practical exam.
University of Delhi, Department of Music (India). Applicants to the Hindustani, Carnatic and percussion degrees give a compulsory audition at the department. It tests raga, tala and improvisation in the chosen tradition.
Practice for this pattern
- Conservatorium van Amsterdam entrance exam, Central Conservatory audition and Tokyo University of the Arts entrance are full practice pathways.
- Ear tests for auditions cover intervals, chord qualities and pitch matching.
- Music theory practice tests build written theory grade by grade.
The Music Stem is independent. No school listed here endorses or reviews our practice. Our full pathways cover the schools linked under Practice. The other schools are listed to show the pattern. Requirements change. Read each school's own page before you apply.