COMPOSITION
All students wishing to enter the Composition program must complete an online application, an audition, and submit a portfolio of compositions for review by the Composition faculty. The online application must be completed by December 1st, and the portfolio must be emailed to musicadmissions@byu.edu by January 15th. More details about each part of the application, including helpful links, follow.
Application
Complete the online application. List “Music Composition” as your intended major. List your primary instrument in the instrument field—this should be the instrument on which you plan to audition. Once you complete AND submit the application, sign up for a time to audition on your chosen instrument OR email a recorded audition to musicadmissions@byu.edu.
Audition
As stated above, all students wishing to major within the School of Music, including in Music Composition, must complete an audition. You must follow the audition requirements for your chosen instrument as indicated online. If you have questions about any of the information there, please contact the studio teacher directly or email Dr. Steven Ricks (steve.ricks@byu.edu).
Portfolio
You must submit a portfolio of three original compositions. These should be works you consider your best compositions so far, that show as much breadth and depth as possible. These printed scores should be neat and should demonstrate your interest in and care toward the craft of composition—your works should include tempo markings, dynamics, articulations, and should reveal an attempt to express your musical ideas as clearly as possible. If you have audio recordings of one or more of the pieces in your portfolio, you are welcome to include them with your submission; you can submit audio files (.wav, .aif, .mp3) on a USB drive, CD, or CDR, or you can email/share files via email with Dr. Steve Ricks directly using DropBox, Box, Google Drive, or some other web-sharing format.
Admission Decisions
Admissions decisions will be based on a careful review of your portfolio and audition results.
Please email all portfolio material no later than January 15th to musicadmissions@byu.edu.
To share audio files for your portfolio, or for answers to questions about applying to the Composition program, please contact:
Dr. Steven Ricks
Division Coordinator of Music Theory and Composition
801-422-6115
steve.ricks@byu.edu
