If you think you’d enjoy our Summer School, we want to meet you!
Every year NYJC’s 15-day national audition tour hears hundreds of gifted young jazz musicians, playing improvised music from a host of different styles on a wide range of instruments, and from a wealth of different cultural backgrounds. We’re delighted to be touring the nation once again in 2025!
We don’t think jazz is just for trumpets, saxophones, drums, and double basses (though we love them!) – we’ve already worked with sitars, violins, French horns, bassoons, accordions, Indian flute and singers and are keen to work with more!
The music we play draws on an eclectic mix of influences from jazz, rock, rap, classical, world music, fusion and folk. We give everything we play a fresh and new spin, so it’s unique and reflects the personal interests of young creatives in the twenty-first century
It costs nothing to come and audition, and you don’t have to have any grades on your instrument. Our multi-award-winning Founding Artistic Director Issie Barratt will guide you through the audition and always gives positive and helpful feedback in your outcome letter. Anyone that isn’t offered a place on the summer school is always signposted to other NYJC opportunities (including our summer short course and regional workshop series) or creative opportunities we know of in your area – all of which will help further develop auditionees creative music skills in time for next year’s auditions.
We’d all love to meet you!
Audition Process
When you arrive at the audition, you will be greeted by a member of our team who will support you through your audition day. They will take you to a warmup room before introducing you to the accompanist who will have 5 minutes to talk/play through your 3 pieces with you.
Three people will be with you during your audition: two adjudicators and a jazz pianist.
The jazz pianist will be accompanying you in your pieces and running some of the practical aural tests.
All three are keen to make sure your audition is as relaxed and creative as possible, so please do tell us if we can do anything to help you during your audition day (including any special access needs you might have).
Summer School Auditions – The 5 Audition Sections
The Summer School audition has 5 sections and will be approximately 20 minutes in duration. You can choose which order you want to do the first 4 sections in, but you will be asked to do all of the following:
1. A simple Blues
Perform a head (the main tune) and three improvised choruses of a mid tempo blues in F (from memory i.e. without using a lead sheet), which will be accompanied by the jazz pianist.
2. Two contrasting pieces
Perform 2 contrasting pieces lasting no more than a total of 6 minutes. Both pieces should begin with an opening ‘head arrangement’ (i.e. a melody, accompanied by a chord progression). This should then be followed by an improvised solo section, which is based on the same chord progression as accompanies the opening head (In both pieces, drummers will be expected to accompany the head, take a solo and trade four, two and one bars with the pianist). Candidates are invited to perform an original piece as one of their two selected pieces.
We’d like to encourage all candidates, where possible, to play their two prepared pieces from memory, so that they can really focus on improvising over the chord changes and interacting with the accompanying pianist. However, this is not obligatory and use of a lead sheet for these two pieces will not influence the outcome of the audition.
All candidates will be expected to provide appropriate concert lead sheets for the accompanying jazz pianist.
Lead sheet example
Guidance on how to write a leadsheet
PIANO AND GUITAR AUDITIONS: NYJC’s piano accompanist will take on the role of a jazz bass.
DRUM AUDITIONS: Drummers will also be asked to play a variety of grooves and feels (using sticks, brushes and mallets) from a specific list of grooves.
3. Aural tests
You’ll be asked to listen to 2-3 short phrases, each played twice on the piano. You will then be asked to play them back on your instrument (or sing them back if your main instrument is voice or drums). Aural tests example.
4. Improvisation and harmonic understanding
We ask you to improvise over two simple chord progressions written especially for the audition, using accessible, standard jazz harmony.
Progression 1 will use a simple progression of up to eight chords, which will be repeated by the pianist, so that the candidate relies on their ears to work out the changes.
Progression 2 (not for drummers) will be a notated progression of up to eight chords using chord symbols.
Instead of Progression 2, drummers will be asked to play a variety of grooves and feels (using sticks, brushes and mallets) from this specific list of grooves.
5. Conversation
At the end of the audition the panel will invite you to take part in a short conversation, so we can hear about your individual interests, discuss things you’ve shared with us in your application form and answer any questions you may have for us.
Vocal Jazz Camp Auditions
LIVE PERFORMANCE: Candidates will be asked to give a live performance accompanied by NYJC’s accompanist.
REPERTOIRE: In the audition candidates will be asked to perform three tunes selected from the list below. Feel free to practice the ballad and medium tempo swing numbers using the using the backing tracks provided after the vocal repertoire list on NYJC’s website
- One of the following ballads: Either “Moonlight in Vermont” or “The Nearness of You”
- One of the following medium tempo swing numbers:
- But Not For Me
- Pennies From Heaven
- Triste
- Beautiful Love
- A piece of your own choice which can be unaccompanied.
Applicants are not required to improvise (scat!) at their audition. They can if they want to – but paraphrasing the melody and communicating the lyrics is sufficient at this stage. We’re really keen to work with all enthusiastic vocalists who are looking to broaden their skillset and take their singing to the next level.
LEAD SHEETS FOR THE ACCOMPANIST: All candidates will be expected to provide appropriate piano accompaniments or concert lead sheets for the accompanying jazz pianist.
Lead sheet example
Guidance on how to write a lead sheet
Book your audition now!
All you need to do is select the audition location/date below, and you will then be redirected to an online application form where you can choose a location that suits you.
The deadline to apply is 11pm on Sunday 16th March 2025
Make sure to sign-up soon to book your preferred venue!
29 March
Norwich
City of Norwich School
(Norwich)
5 April
London
The Royal Academy of Music
6 April
London
The Royal Academy of Music
7 April
Bristol
Beacon Music Centre
8 April
Exeter
The Maynard School
9 April
Winchester (Hampshire)
St Swithun’s School
11 April
Oxford
Oxford Centre for Music (Oxford Music Service)
12 April
Manchester
The Claremont Centre (Trafford Music Service)
13 April
Leeds
The Music House (Yorkshire College of Music & Drama)
14 April
Newcastle
The Lit & Phil Library
15 April
London
Guildhall School of Music & Drama
16 April
London
Guildhall School of Music & Drama
17 April
Cambridge
The Leys School
22 April
Birmingham
Midlands Arts Centre
23 April
Leicester
Leicester High School
What happens next?
We will write to you two weeks after the end of the audition tour (We do not have capacity to give specific feedback or discuss your marks/assessment from the day).
