Theory Placement Tests

Undergraduate Test

All students applying for admission to an undergraduate program must take the Speed and Competency Rudiments Examination (SACRE) exam, a twenty-minute test on rudiments (scales, intervals, chords, and meter) during the week of their audition. Students who do not excel on this test will be required to retake the exam in August, during Audition Week. Students whose second test is still less than excellent will be required to take Theory Fundamentals concurrently with Music Theory I in their first semester at Peabody.

The Music Theory Lab (710.011) meets for two fifty-minute sessions every week for the first ten weeks of the fall semester and is a zero-credit course. (However, the course and the grade appears on a student's transcript.) Since the regular music theory courses build upon a solid knowledge of music fundamentals, and since a freshman schedule will be considerably lighter for freshman who are not required to enroll in the Music Theory Lab, we strongly recommend that entering freshmen study over the summer. A retake of the SACRE will be required during Orientation Week.

 

Some students come to Peabody having studied figured bass and counterpoint. These students are encouraged to take the Advanced Placement Undergraduate Exam (AP-Ugrad). An excellent performance on this test would make a student eligible for placement into Theory II or Theory I-II: an accelerated course that covers two years of material in one year.

Students are welcome to take this exam but should be advised that the bar is set quite high. For advanced placement in Music Theory, we expect students performing as well as our Freshman at the end of their first year of study. We test hundreds of students every year and very few place out of Theory I.

We do not accept AP credits in music theory.

 

Graduate Test

Graduate students are expected to enter their degree programs with a thorough understanding of tonal harmony. All graduate students are required to take the Graduate Review Theory Test (GRTT), which consists of analysis, figured bass, and chromatic harmony.

Students whose GRTT results demonstrate a lack of proficiency and/or speed with the materials of music theory must enroll in a review class in the fall (710.415: Graduate Theory Review). The Graduate Theory Review class meets for two seventy-five minute sessions every week of the fall semester and is a zero-credit course. Since completion of this course is required before students may enroll in regular music theory electives that are required for all degree programs, we strongly recommend that you study over the summer and retake the examination during Orientation Week if you placed in Graduate Theory Review by examination earlier this year.

DMA students must also take the Graduate Assistant and Doctor of Musical Arts Exam (GADMA). Unlike the other placement exams, the GADMA is a factor in admissions decisions. Moreover, there is no August retake.

 

The GADMA is a ninety-minute examination that tests your knowledge of four-part, chorale-style writing from a given figured bass, analysis (using Roman numerals and figured bass symbols plus circling and labeling non-chord tones), counterpoint (18th Century), and 20th Century materials.

GRTT is a forty-five minute examination that tests your knowledge of four-part, chorale-style writing from a given figured bass, analysis (using Roman numerals and figured bass symbols plus circling and labeling non-chord tones), and spelling of chromatic chords.

 

 

Keyboard Placement Tests

UNDERGRADUATE KEYBOARD STUDIES PLACEMENT EXAMINATION

(for Non-Piano Majors)

 

This placement audition is for the purpose of assigning the student to either the first level, rudimentary, or accelerated level of Keyboard Studies. Students typically vary widely in terms of piano background.

In order to be placed in the first level of Keyboard Studies, students should have:

1. secure knowledge of the keyboard;

2. basic understanding of good fingering;

3. the ability to sight-read examples in both treble and bass clef;

4. knowledge theory fundamentals appropriate for Theory I;

5. a prepared piece ready to perform

Outcomes

• Students with relatively extensive background in piano will be asked to demonstrate skills similar to those described for the piano major's exam.

• Students with little or no background in piano should not be concerned about their present inability to do some or all of the above. There are rudiments courses available to teach those things.

It is important for everyone to be placed in an appropriate course