As well as singing your prepared piece in the audition, you will also be asked to take some aural tests. These may vary depending on which College is taking your audition, but tend to contain the following four types of test: pitching of intervals, picking out notes in a chord, memorising a short melody, and sight-reading.
Sample aural tests
This section aims to give you an example of the nature of these tests with the help of audio files. The audio file in the left column contains the question, and that on the right gives the answer.
Pitching of intervals
Task 1: Please sing a minor 7th above this note.
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Sopranos and altos (given note): |
Sopranos and altos (correct note): |
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Tenors and basses (given note): |
Tenors and basses (correct note): |
Task 2: This is the note A; please sing the note D below.
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Sopranos and altos (given note): |
Sopranos and altos (correct note): |
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Tenors and basses (given note): |
Tenors and basses (correct note): |
Picking out notes in a chord
Task 3: Please sing the middle note of this three-note chord.
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Sopranos and altos (given chord, played twice): |
Sopranos and altos (middle note): |
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Tenors and basses (given chord, played twice): |
Tenors and basses (middle note): |
Task 4: Please sing all the notes of this three-note chord from the bottom upwards.
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Sopranos and altos (given chord, played twice): |
Sopranos and altos (individual notes): |
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Tenors and basses (given chord, played twice): |
Tenors and basses (individual notes): |
Memorising a short melody
Task 5: Please sing this short phrase to the syllable 'la' immediately after hearing it.
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Sopranos and altos (given phrase): |
Sopranos and altos (correct phrase): |
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Tenors and basses (given phrase): |
Tenors and basses (correct phrase): |
Sight-reading
Task 6: Please sing the relevant part of 
this motet while the other parts are played on the piano. The piece proceeds in crotchets.
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Sopranos: |
Sopranos: (all parts played on the piano) |
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Altos: |
Altos: (alto part sung correctly to the piano) |
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Tenors: |
Tenors: (all parts played on the piano) |
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Basses: |
Basses: (all parts played on the piano) |