Repertoire for an admittent hearing: how to choose them

For an admissions audition select works that you really dominate, and not the most difficult ones you know: the jury hears sound, tuning, rhythm, technical monitoring and musicality. If you are asked to have several, they will have to have a character or age, and always adjusted to the official list of the program.

Each university publishes its own repertoire requirements at each call, so the first step is to read them. Then come the work: to ride the works with time, to conduct simulated auditions and to record you.

To sum up

First read the official list: each university publishes its works, studies and scales requirements at each call.
Choose works that play with safety and good sound and a difficult work that's bad to play with more than that adds up.
If you are asked to have several works, seek contrast: quick and slow, different periods or styles.
If there's an imposed work, come with the technique up to date so that we can ride it soon.
Do simulated auditions and record with video in the weeks leading up to the test.

What universities demand at audition

Examples of the most recent call we have reviewed (2026)
Universidad	What I requested in instrument
National University	Repertoire and technical studies published by period in PDF documents and instrument testing was phase out
District ASAB	Retirement instrumental performance test with a minimum of 60 and 100
National pedagogical (2026-2)	Free work, an established work published about a month earlier and first-sight reading
Javeriana	Audition as emphasized: face to face with interpretation, a work free of any gender in Musical Education, portfolio of two original works more audition in Composition
Univalle	Instrumental noise up to 10 minutes and with his own instrument, with the exception of piano and contraple and percussion
The Andes	The hearing for the line of interpretation is submitted after admission

No universal repertoire exists: the same work can serve at one university and cannot meet the requirements at another. Consultation, for example, [national specific tests]](https://admisiones.unal.edu.co/pregrado/pruebas-especificas/) or Univalle-specific test.

How to choose free work

The free work is your letter of introduction. Decide with your teacher using these criteria:

That you dominate her at the actual tempo. If a passage goes out "most often," at an audition, with nerves, it's probably not going to come out.
Let me show you your sound. A work or a cantable movement lets you hear tuning, sound quality and frambling, and they say a lot about a musician.
Retirement: age, style, duration, number of movements and if you have to go by memory.
That's good. That's how you'll play her hundreds of times. If you enjoy her, she'll be spotted.
That's good with time. If the hearing's short, the jury may listen to just a fragment and if they let you choose, start with the section that best represents you.

Search for contrast

If you are asked to have several works, it combines character and age: a quick and slow, a baroque or classical and a romantic or contemporary, or an academic and a Latin American if the list allows. The contrast shows more facets of how you play than two similar works.

What about Colombian or popular music?

If the call allows a free work of any kind, as requested by Javeriana's Music Education's emphasis at the revised call, a bambuco, a corridor or a popular work well performed can work very well. In programs with a defined academic repertoire, respect the list. To doubt, ask the university before setting up the work.

Studies, scales and jobs

Technical studies

A study shows a concrete technical aspect: velocity, arpegtiums, changes of position, arch blows, joints. Touch it clear and as close as possible to the indicated tempo; if you do not get there yet, check with your teacher if it's best to prioritize accuracy to a somewhat minor tempo.

Scales

Even if they do not explicitly demand them from you, the bigger and minor scales and their arpegtiums in your instrument's registration are the basis for everything else. If the instructive does ask them, prepare every tone that indicates and practice them in disorder, as this can be requested by the jury.

Impaired work

It's a work that the university lays down for all applicants, sometimes with little time: at the Pedagogic was published about a month earlier, according to the revised call. To avoid coming with an aim:

Have the technique and reading up to date from earlier: in a month you can mount a work but do not build the technique that requires.
The day they publish them, read them complete and mark the difficult passages.
Fold it through sections, starting with the most difficult.
Listen to reference versions, but make your own frying decisions.
Just leave the last week to play complete and run.

Tips by family of instruments

What to care about and what to wear with your instrument
Familia	What does the jury usually look at?	What to prepare or carry
Piano	Cleverness of voices, pedal control, independence of hands	He's a piano practice different from yours, because you're gonna play college.
Violin and Violin	Afination, arch quality, vibration, position changes	Resin, spare ropes and the [violin tuner]](/herramientas/afinador/violin) by hand
Cello and contraband	Filling at acute registration, sound at grave, arch management	He asked if the university put the instrument into place and at Univalle they did not have to carry them down.
Guitar	Clear polyphony, finger-to-finger sound, tuning	Fingernails with fingernails and tipples with advance days, never the same day
Wines and rods	Sound, tuning, joint, breathing	Replacement rods already tested (clarinet, saxophone, oboe) and clear and revised instrument
Metal wind	Sound centre, flexibility, articulation	piston or stick oil and time to heat up his lip
Singing	Filling, technique, formulation, text interpretation	Ask if you have to wear accompanying pianist or track, scores in your tone
Percussion	Pulse, dynamic monitoring, baccalaureate technique	Your baccalaureates and mats, check what instruments the university lays

If the test is in Bogotá, it counts with the cold of the morning and the dry air: they affect the hands, the ropes and the rods. It arrives with time to heat and adjust the tuning at the place.

How to prepare an audition

Suggested schedule
When	What to do
6 months or more earlier	To choose the Repertoire with your Teacher according to the official list and to put them together by sections
3 months earlier	All complete read works, hard passage work and first recording
2 months earlier	Stopo works and first simulated auditions with other people
1 months earlier	complete program run several times a week; fine adjustments, no great changes
Last week	Keep and rest well and have nothing to start with: no work, no ropes and no rods without proof

Simultaneous hearings

Play for your teacher, family, friends and musicians or at a student recital.
It simulates everything: come in, say hi, say what you're gonna play, tuning and start.
Touch him cold sometimes, because on the day of the test you may have little time to heat up.
Record with video and watch with score: check tempo, posture and gestures of tension.
Define re-start points: place of play from where you can get back to if you lose.

The nerves appear even in musicians with a lot of experience. You have concrete strategies in how to overcome stage fear.

The day of hearing

He arrives with time to heat and tuning at the place.
Take your scores and copies if the instructivo wants them to be put to the jury.
Choose a tempo that you can hold up, and not your favorite solo player's recording.
If the jury cuts you off or asks you to move to another section, don't take it as bad sign: sometimes she's heard what she needs.
If you're wrong, go ahead and the jury's been evaluating the whole thing, and that's something but a beacon.
If there's also first-glance reading in the instrument, apply your review routine and we explain them in [rhythmic and melodic reading for the admittent test]](/blog/lectura-ritmica-y-melodica-para-la-prueba-de-admision).

Hearing is a part of the test and theory and ear count as well. To organize everything, check how to prepare for the music admittance testand if you wish to put your repertoire together, A medio tono you can have [piano] classes](/clases/piano) and other instruments, as well as theory, virtual or at home in Bogotá, as part of your [production for admission]](/preuniversitario-musica).

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to play by heart at the audition?

It's up to the university and the instrument. If the instructiva doesn't clear it up, ask earlier. If you decide to play with memory, start memorizing with months of advance and try to play with other people without the score.

How many works do I have to prepare?

Those that indicate the call for your program. Some require a single free work, some add up works of different styles, studies, scales or work imposed. Prepare exactly what they demand, and well.

Can I change jobs soon before the test?

A work needs time to settle and resist his nerves. If one isn't functioning, put his teacher with two or three months of space.

Do the quality of my instrument matter a lot?

More than an expensive one, you have to have a good and well-calibrated one. Take it to a review with time: settled ropes, bridge, slippers or pistons. And if the university puts the instrument, as with the piano, practice them in instruments other than your own.