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Program Details
The University of Toronto Percussion program features a unique curriculum blending contemporary, orchestral, and world-music perspectives and traditions. The program features experiential learning in a creative research environment under the leadership of Prof. Aiyun Huang. The undergraduate curriculum offers a comprehensive education on building the fundamentals of percussion. The graduate curriculum focuses on professional training and interdisciplinary research with the aim to enable students to work alongside professionals, researchers and artists in a collaborative setting. Graduate students are expected to take an active role in charting their own path with a forward-looking attitude through performance, scholarship and/or interdisciplinary research.
Degrees/Studies Offered
— Bachelor of Music (BMus)
— Masters of Music (MMus)
— Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA)
— Artist Diploma (AD)
— Advanced Certificate in Performance (ACP)
Opportunities in Graduate Studies
Area research and teaching opportunities for graduate students:
Graduate students have the opportunity to participate in faculty-led creative research projects featuring percussion with technology, neuroscience, film, and recording. Graduate students are encouraged to develop multiple areas of expertise leveraging research opportunities both inside the Faculty of Music and within the University of Toronto at large. The current research agendas can support graduate students with research interests in:
— Contemporary Music Performance Practice
— Percussion and Technology
— Percussion and Music Learning (Pedagogy)
— Percussion and Neuroscience
Funding opportunities for graduate students:
— Student Assistantships
— Research Assistantships
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Photos Credit: Thomas Li
— Lesson
— Percussion Ensemble
— Masterclass (undergraduate)
— Orchestral Literature (undergraduate)
— Major Ensemble (undergraduate and MMus only)
Optional
– Contemporary Music Ensemble
– African Drumming
– Brazilian Drumming
– Persian Drumming
– Korean Drumming
– Steel Band
– Taiko Lesson
– Percussion Ensemble
– Masterclass (undergraduate)
– Orchestral Literature (undergraduate)
– Major Ensemble (undergraduate and MMus only)
— African Drumming
— Brazilian Drumming
— Persian Drumming
— Korean Drumming
— Steel Drum Band
— Taiko
Required: 15-20 minutes of music
Bachelor of Music programs: minimum RCM Level 8 repertoire
Bachelor of Music in Performance/Artist Diploma: minimum RCM Level 10 repertoire
1. One timpani Étude
2. Two snare drum solos displaying rudimentary & orchestral techniques as well as:
- closed roll from piano to forte and back to piano over 20 seconds
- open roll from slow to fast and back to slow
3. Marimba:
- One 2-mallet solo
- One 4-mallet solo
- Major and minor (harmonic and chromatic) scales, two octaves
4. Performance and Artist Diploma applicants only: Glockenspiel excerpt from Mozart’s The Magic Flute
Please prepare ONE of the following lists (25 minutes of music):
a.) Four (4) contrasting works in;
– Snare: one etude from Delécluse Douze Etudes
– Timpani
– Mallets: marimba or vibraphone
– Multi-percussion: e.g. Rebonds A or B, Asanga, She who sleeps with a small blanket, Side by Side or a work of similar level
b.) Three (3) contrasting works in
– Snare
– Timpani
– Mallets
+ Selection of 10 orchestral excerpts in snare, xylo, glock, timpani, cymbals, tambourine and triangle.
All DMA Programs
There are two (2) rounds of auditions for these programs:
1. A pre-audition recording is to be submitted by the document deadline (Friday December 6, 2024). A direct link to an unlisted YouTube playlist must be included on the Audition Program Template and uploaded in the graduate application portal. Pre- audition results are available in early January. See repertoire requirements, and recording guidelines, below.
2. Based on the Admission Committee’s assessment of the pre-audition video, applicants may be invited for the full in-person audition. In-person auditions are typically held in mid-February. A schedule of dates will be available later in the fall.
All applicants must submit their full audition program using the Audition Program Template (available on the graduation application portal) as part of their supporting documents deadline (Friday December 6, 2024). See the repertoire requirements for your instrument below.
Recording Guidelines
- Ensure that you have met the pre-audition repertoire requirements for your instrument (below) and ensure that the audio is of good quality.
- Recordings should be no older than September 1, 2024.
- The applicant must appear centred in the video frame.
- The video should be shown in full profile with face, hands and feet visible at all times. For instrumentalists, the head and both hands must be clearly visible. For singers, the applicant must face the camera directly and the upper body and face must be visible.
- Unless otherwise stated, each piece of repertoire may be recorded separately, then combined into one video, or they may be listed on one playlist on an unlisted YouTube channel.
- There must be no editing within individual pieces or movements.
Tape round:
two contrasting work plus research statement (two pages)
The same requirements apply to both rounds of audition (pre-audition and in-person audition) for this program.
A recital of 30 minutes must clearly demonstrate the candidate’s:
1) knowledge of percussion repertoire; and
2) expertise in candidate’s chosen topic of research.
