The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University

Given the number of schools to which the average undergrad is applying, and given the time and expense of traveling to each school for an audition, it would be in everyone's interest if we could give you some hints about the kind of students who are typically accepted to Peabody. I would like to approach this first from the point of view of the school, and then from the applicant's point of view. I hope you have a few minutes to spend with me here. This is not a simple subject.

Music schools (and singers who have performed in choruses) know that establishing a balance between male and female voices can be tricky. There are fewer male applicants to most music schools, but for some reason they "self select" well. In other words, most of the male applicants we hear at Peabody come to us with considerable experience and dedication. In a typical year, we audition roughly sixty males, and we accept over 60%.

Our applicant pool of females is about three times larger than for males, and the females tend to come to us with a wider range of training and experience. While all are earnest in their desire to pursue a musical career, we can only accept the most advanced. Thus, our acceptance rate for female voices is usually below 30%. We love to have lots of people visiting the school during auditions, but by the same token we hate to send rejection letters to so many of the female singers we meet—especially knowing how much time and money has gone into the audition trip.  In an effort to streamline the process the voice faculty now pre-screens all applications.

To help guide you, we asked the voice faculty to tell us what theylook for at the auditions. They sent us a list.

Number one on their list was simply being able to read musical notation. This will sound silly to most of you, but there are actually people applying to major music schools who have learned all their repertoire by repetition. In musical terms, this is the equivalent of enrolling in algebra without first understanding basic math. It's hard to get along in an advanced school of music without music reading skills, so such students are always rejected. Note that we are not referring to sight-reading here (although we sometimes ask for it at auditions), just a solid understanding of musical notation.

The next thing the faculty mentioned was tone quality and projection. Often we observe bad habits which cannot be corrected over the duration of a typical undergraduate program, so we must reject. We realize that voices at the undergraduate level are not yet mature, but we are looking for people who are clearly headed in the right direction at the time of their auditions. If you find you have to use a microphone to fill a small room, or if your voice tends to be lost when you sing with others, you would want to work on this element before auditioning at any major music school.

The program at Peabody is based on opera and art song, so successful applicants typically have several years of private lessons in their background, including exposure to the special challenges of singing in European languages (French, German, and Italian). Singers with a primary interest in musical theater or popular music will find programs at other schools that better fit their needs. You should have good singing facility in at least one of those three languages for your audition.

The next item on the list is accuracy in pitch and rhythm. It makes sense that these relate to note reading (for rhythm) and tone production (for pitch).  Most singers deal with these issues on occasion, but remember you are competing with a large number of applicants, so the faculty is likely to reject those who have anything but the most minor and rare pitch issues.

Since the audition itself is a performance, the faculty looks for a certain level of preparedness and polish. Applicants who are ready for conservatory entrance tend to have a repertoire of memorized works ready to perform on short notice, so singing from music is a no-no (unless you are attempting an oratorio or some insanely difficult 20th century work). Although I hate to say it, please avoid non-traditional audition repertoire. Hymns, songs from the school musical, or your own compositions make for an interesting audition, but if you have a suitable background for admission, there will be no need for it.

We expect to hear repertoire appropriate to your age and voice type—musically interpreted and communicative to the auditioning panel. There is no need to risk hitting a note which may not yet be reliably in your range. However, you must be so totally familiar with your repertoire that your entire focus is on creating a musical experience for your audience. It also helps to look the part. The trick is to present yourself as a confident, focused performer. Dress with the hope that when you leave the room the faculty will want to talk about your performance—not your clothes. When in doubt, favor the formal side.

On behalf of the voice faculty, I hope these guidelines give you a "feel" for what we are looking for. If you can't clearly see yourself within the descriptions above, the odds of acceptance at Peabody are not good. You can still apply if you wish, but I suggest sending a recording as a less costly and time consuming alternative. Peabody is truly an international music school, so we are used to dealing with such things. Finally, remember that those admitted to Peabody will be only a percentage of those who are comfortably within all the parameters listed by the faculty. Thus, it is a good idea to apply to a variety of colleges and universities with varying levels of vocal development required for entrance. The good news is that a large percentage of the applicants we cannot accommodate at Peabody find excellent situations at other schools.

Visit the Voice department website

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