Jazz Piano Entrance Audition: Prepare Your Chords and Voicings

Only your school’s audition regulations are binding, and they differ from place to place. Some elements come up again and again, though: a piece from a lead sheet (melody plus chords), comping from chord symbols, and cadences like the ii-V-I in several keys. Some schools also test scales or sight-reading.

All of these share one foundation: you need to see a chord symbol and have the shape in your hand right away. That is exactly what you can train.

• Seventh chords from the symbol maj7, 7, m7, m7♭5 in all 12 keys, without counting
• Shell voicings Root, third, seventh: the basis for every lead sheet
• Major ii-V-I in all keys, at least with shells, rootless is better
• Minor ii-V-i m7♭5 – 7 – m6, e.g. Dm7♭5 – G7 – Cm6
• Blues form 12-bar jazz blues, often in F and B♭
• Playing a lead sheet Melody in the right hand, voicings in the left, in time and without stopping

1. Weeks 1–2 Seventh chords in all keys as shells. 10 minutes a day, targeting the slow keys.
2. Weeks 3–4 Major ii-V-I around the circle of fourths. Shells first, then rootless A → B.
3. Week 5 Minor ii-V-i and the blues form, both in the keys of the pieces you plan to play.
4. Weeks 6–7 Audition piece from a lead sheet: left hand alone in tempo first, then add the melody.
5. Week 8 Dress rehearsal: play the piece for an audience or a recording; chord drills only as a warm-up.

Short on time? Compress weeks 1–4, but keep the dress rehearsal. More time? Take on more keys in rootless voicings.

For the chord weeks there is the trainer: it shows you chord symbols, listens through your MIDI keyboard and measures how fast you find each shape. You see in black and white which keys are still shaky before the audition.