Special talents wanted
Aptitude tests at the Schloss Belvedere Music Grammar School for the 2025/26 school year
The music programme at the Music High School Schloss Belvedere, the centre for highly gifted students at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar, enjoys an excellent reputation. Instrumental and vocal instruction is provided by professors and lecturers from the Weimar University of Music. The Music High School is now once again conducting its entrance exams for future grades 5 to 11. Interested applicants for the 2025/26 school year are cordially invited to an audition, examination and interview on Friday, 7 March at the Music Grammar School.
Pupils in grades 4 to 10 who are already successfully learning an instrument and can demonstrate that they are qualified for grammar school are eligible to apply for the aptitude test. In general, applicants have a better chance of being accepted into the lower grades. In addition, the following instruments are particularly sought after: accordion, bassoon, viola, double bass and percussion. Applications for the aptitude tests are possible until 24 February. Further information can be found here: www.musikgymnasium-belvedere.de/bewerbung.html
The aptitude test consists of three parts: playing an instrument, a test of general musicality and musical reasoning skills in the areas of music theory and aural training, and an interview about family, school and boarding school. Opportunities for presentation exist for all orchestral instruments, piano, organ, accordion, recorder, guitar, classical singing (after the voice has changed) and composition.
For the audition, a programme of about 15 minutes is requested, which should consist of two pieces of different character or from different eras and a technical section. The technical part includes, for example, scales, triads, chords in different types of articulation, possibly also an etude. The performance part should not include any pop songs and can be extended by the examination board to include a short trial lesson or a sight-reading exercise.
The examination of general musicality includes creating, singing and recognising intervals and triads aurally, repeating melodies, continuing melodies and sight-singing exercises with melodies and rhythms, as well as a test of music theory knowledge. The interview with the applicants offers the opportunity to ask questions about the documents submitted. It serves to round off the impression of the applicant's personality gained in the other parts of the examination.
The Music High School Schloss Belvedere is a state-approved special boarding school for up to 120 students from grade 5 upwards. The education intensively promotes solo, chamber music and orchestral experiences through a variety of performance opportunities. The students, who come from Germany and abroad and play at the first desks of the National Youth Orchestra of Germany and the National Selection Orchestra, include numerous prizewinners of national and international competitions. Many alumni of the music high school now play in leading national and international orchestras. The music high school is also involved as a UNESCO project school.
[3rd February 2025]