College/University is meant to prepare students for the real world and their future career. Texas State University (TXST) is one of the top universities in texas for music performance and music education, being ranked #6 on music-colleges.com and #9 on college factual. On top of txst’s multiple top 10 rankings for schools of music in Texas, the school’s music website lists the music studies/education degree as having  a “job placement rate that approaches 100%”. It is clear to see that the music students here at Texas State receive a quality education that rivals many of the top schools in Texas. 

All of this being said, there is one aspect of the school of music that does not completely prepare students for getting a real world job in music performance. The audition process for Band/Orchestra placements has many components to it that do prepare you for a real world audition. The audition includes three areas of preparation, solo repertoire, orchestra/band excerpts, and sight reading. These are all components of a real world orchestra/band audition. There is just one key piece missing to the audition process and that is the fact that the auditions are not blind. Many U.S. Army Bands do blind auditions and it is standard for professional band/orchestra auditions to be blind.

Many other schools/universities do blind auditions. High School All-Region auditions are blind across the state and many universities including the University of Texas at Austin do blind auditions. By making the auditions blind at Texas State University, the audition process will better prepare students for a real world career as a professional instrumentalist.