If you're a flute student planning to audition for college music programs, congratulations! It can be overwhelming and stressful to not only deal with paperwork and applications, but to also prepare an audition for your potential future flute professor.
Most college flute auditions will require one of the Mozart flute concertos. Some schools may ask for specific pieces or will give you the option to choose something technical and lyrical to show your stuff.
As a flute teacher, I always take my student's personal skills and interests in mind when choosing college audition repertoire. The earlier you start preparing, the more time you will have to study challenging repertoire that will showcase your strengths!
This list has a mix of pieces by standard Western Classical composers and by living/underrepresented composers that my own students have enjoyed studying for college auditions. If you already have a flute teacher, they can give you recommendations that are more specific to your skillset. If you don't have a flute teacher just yet, check out my College Audition Prep Guide to help you in the college audition process from start to finish!
To find the sheet music for these recommendations, click on the piece title and composer. Happy listening!
Ian Clarke is a living British composer. This lyrical piece for flute and piano is a great introductory piece to extended techniques. If you've never studied a piece with extended techniques before, this piece keeps it simple while challenging your control and tone in every part of the flute range. This is great for schools that require a flute and piano piece by a living composer.
If you're looking for a French Morceau de Concours or contest piece, this is a great selection that isn't found in The French Book (Flute Music by French Composers). This piece has a lyrical and technical section and is considered a part of the standard Western flute repertoire. This is a great choice for schools requiring a French piece, or a technical and lyrical selection.
This is a better known French contest piece that can be found in The French Book. All contest pieces include a lyrical and technical section, so this piece can serve double duty for schools with more general repertoire requirements. It can be a challenging piece, so using it for several schools would be wise should you choose to study it.
Adoplhus Hailstork is a living African American composer. He has other unaccompanied flute pieces that are more popular, but choosing a lesser known piece could show your ability to research and study modern flute music. this piece is so recent that as of the publication of this blog post, this partial recording is the only one on YouTube!
Dr. Cynthia Cozette Lee is a living African American composer. This unaccompanied flute piece has three movements and is a great challenge for high school students. As of the writing of this blog post, Dr. Lee does not have the sheet music available for purchase. However, if you email her she would be happy to share. (One of my students had a long phone call with Dr. Lee in the middle of Sam's Club, where she learned the entire backstory for Nigerian Treasures!) This is great for schools that require an unaccompanied flute piece, technical sections, and pieces by living/underrepresented composers.
Lowell Liebermann is a living American composer. Of the eight movements in this piece, I recommend mvts 4 (Etude), 5 (Hongroise), 7 (Fanfares), and 8 (March) for college auditions. This unaccompanied flute piece has a lot of quirk and personality for such a short collection. Each movement has rhythmic and technical challenges, and the March movement even has key slaps that are fun to practice! Any movement would be a great selection for a technical section or unaccompanied flute selection.
Gary Schocker is a living American and queer composer. This piece has two distinctly lyrical and technical sections. The lyrical section is deceptively easy, while the technical section keeps you on your toes with time signature changes, scale passages, and a few high C's for good measure! This would be a great choice for schools requiring a concerto, general lyrical and technical selections, and pieces by underrepresented composers.
This is another student favorite in the French contest pieces category. Featuring both a lyrical and technical movement, either or both movements can be prepared and highlight your playing in the romantically French style. This will work well for schools that require a French piece and a lyrical and technical selection.
This list is lacking in Baroque selections, but most students already know about Bach or Handel. Georg Philipp Telemann has 12 unaccompanied fantasias that offer a little bit of everything in the way of college audition requirements. Each fantasia has 3 movements, with a mix of lyrical and technical movements that give you plenty of options to choose from. Although any of the 12 fantasias are great choices, my students have enjoyed No. 2 (A Minor), No. 4 (B-flat Major), and No. 6 (D Minor). Take a listen to Fantasia No. 6:
Yuko Uebayashi is a living woman and Japanese composer. If you're looking for an unaccompanied piece that's not Bach or Telemann, this piece has a great balance of slow and technical passages that tell a unique story. Like Nigerian Treasures, there is a lot to understand about the piece's backstory. Selecting a piece like this can show your ability to research pieces and apply your understanding to the performance of this piece.
Amanda Harberg is a living woman and American composer. Although the first and third movement of the Court Dances are collegiate level movements, the second movement is an excellent choice for a modern lyrical selection. With many opportunities for emotion and making your own musical decisions, this piece will showcase your ability to make it your own.
For more college audition repertoire sheet music, check out Flute Center's collection of amazing flute pieces! Use the coupon code SIMPERMUSIC to get a discount, because every little bit helps!