Would You Pass The Berklee Audition? Take This 3-Minute Test To Find Out!

Disclaimers: This is not official Berklee content. I am not an employee of Berklee. I have prepared many students for the audition and am fairly familiar with it.

[@tanmayawahal1160]

watched this video a week before my audition and got my acceptance letter today! this was really helpful, thanks

[@HubGuitar]

Congratulations! Wishing you a wonderful time at Berklee, should you find yourself there. Those were some of the best days of my life.

[@HubGuitar]

Reminder: This is NOT official Berklee content! Every year, I prepare students for Berklee, so I know a bit about the process. Hope this helps you! -Grey

[@xaviersmits]

This is extremely helpful thank you so much, I have a lot a work to do, where can I find those practice exercises?

[@HubGuitar]

@@xaviersmits Unfortunately I didn't end up getting that done! I do apologize about that. What I have my students do is: use random KZbin tracks for backing tracks and improvise; use Tenuto app for learning to differentiate chords and the like. Transcription practice generally helps with the call-and-response part.

[@thevoidanswerswithjazz2215]

The longer rhythm scared me so bad haha, the rest I'm pretty good with doe 🤠💀

[@HubGuitar]

Don’t worry, you won’t get one that long!

[@tablier_2910]

This is wonderful information, I'm planning for my audition early and your video just gave me everything I need to work on. I'm also one of the newer players who has been practicing ferociously for a little over two years for an opportunity to get into Berkely and it makes me happy to learn that it's a feasible goal!

[@HubGuitar]

It’s doable! Your performance piece, your personal vision, your ability to articulate your goals, all of those things play a role.

[@tbhricky]

Hey is yours in february?

[@mansisinghal5910]

Did you get in

[@HubGuitar]

I want to apologize for anyone looking for the tracks! I ended up suddenly switching to another project unexpectedly and didn't end up getting them done. Basically, I recommend you practice for the interview by recording yourself answering these questions on your phone: "Why do you want to come to Berklee?", "How will you help Berklee become a better place?", "Can you introduce yourself?" -- for improv, I recommend using simple major/minor/blues tracks on KZbin and improvising. For ear training, transcription helps, as does the app Tenuto (especially for differentiating triad chords). Hope this helps!

[@michaelvarney.]

Nailed first rhythm, bumbled the 2nd. Did fair on the melodies, but lots to work on there. The chords were easy, got all of them.

[@BLANCOYNEGROFILMS]

Oh this is so helpful, I wish there was one for cellists

[@HubGuitar]

The process is really almost the same for any instrument, Berklee definitely needs cellists, so that’s great!

[@kylanicole2713]

This is so helpful. Thank you so much!! I have my auction for voice next week🤗

[@HubGuitar]

How’d your audition go?

[@JonFinnguitar]

This is great! I get asked about things like a lot this so I'm going to use this video as a resource thank you!!!

[@devineokonji7523]

How about if you're drummer do you still need to know about chords and the rest???

[@LaurenPassarelli]

Count in first, so people know where it starts.

[@HubGuitar]

That was my first thought too. I ended up doing it this way because I thought someone mentioned the audition team “may or may not” count in the call and response exercises. Thanks for watching, Lauren!

[@LaurenPassarelli]

@@HubGuitar i think it’s crazy that the college may not. “Just read our minds. Guess you can’t cut it.“

[@hjsong353]

Thank you so much for this awesome video!

[@f52_yeevy]

Thank you so much for this video! Hopefully, when time will come, I’ll be able to pass the auditions!

[@patrickh573]

Thanks so much for this video, it is so helpful! I just wonder what will the range of intervals for ear training in the audition typically be? Will they ask for all the intervals from m2 to O or only certain intervals will usually be asked?

[@spin6091]

hello is this audition for guitarist ? how it will be for vocalist?

[@pootluv]

wait so no interval ear training?? maybe i’m gonna be okay D: i have my audition in two weeks haha

[@pootluv]

i appreciate this video a lot. Thank you so much for your help!

[@HubGuitar]

regarding interval ear training, i don't think it's typically a "standard" question, for example to hear and identify an interval as a major 7th, etc. however it could be asked - as I understand it, the audition team have flexibility, it's a friendly conversation to see where your skills are more than it is some sort of test. but also, remember that they can infer your interval knowledge from call & response exercises; naming intervals is a "formal" skill that you could learn at berklee whereas being able to hear and repeat them is more of a naturally developed ear training that you're likely to learn on your own. i'm glad you found this helpful, and I wish you luck!

[@Shaksyrn]

If we are doing voice will they ask us to sing what your playing on the guitar or the piano

[@HubGuitar]

They’ll ask you to sing it

[@da_true_lo]

Loved this video!

[@BLANCOYNEGROFILMS]

Can we sing the melody instead of playing it on the instrument? Or is it mandatory to do it that way?

[@HubGuitar]

This would be a great question to ask admissions! :)

[@milkcanegarlicbread5590]

hi!, would you be able to upload the practice zip files? thanks!

[@HubGuitar]

Thanks so much for the reminder! Unfortunately a bunch of things happened right at this time that led me to putting that on the shelf, but I do hope to revisit it! For now I would suggest using apps like tenuto, and just listening to music you like for call & response (melodic and rhythmic dictation). There are also ear training and dictation books that are useful!

[@drakegarza5859]

This ain’t fucking 3 minutes

[@letsgofishing5238]

Is this really all it takes? Im guessing the improv had to be really advanced. No way its that easy

[@HubGuitar]

Well, it's not supposed to be "hard" in that it crushes people and they fail. But don't be deceived if it seems "easy", either; even just by asking a hundred applicants to play a simple chord, a trained pair of ears can hear many differences. In other words, most people applying to Berklee can cope with these challenges, but there is still plenty of room to show your stuff.