MU School of Music Music Theory Proficiency Examination Information for Incoming Graduate Students Each entering graduate music student (MM and MA programs) will be examined on his/her proficiency and skill in music theory. The three-hour examination will cover the analysis of music from the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and twentieth-/twenty-first-century periods, and will include:

Formal analysis (phrases/periods/sections; key schemes, including development sections) Analysis of diatonic and chromatic harmony Twentieth-/twenty-first-century analytical techniques

Specific questions will be asked from the following:

Keys and key signatures Scales (including ecclesiastical modes and ‘synthetic’ scales) Rhythm Analysis of melody Decorative pitches (non-harmonic tones) Analysis of harmony Modulation Cadences Contrapuntal techniques and devices Instrumental transposition Form (design or pattern, and key scheme) Set Theory and Basic Twelve-Tone Theory

In its core undergraduate tonal theory sequence, the University of Missouri uses Robert Gauldin’s Harmonic Practice in Tonal Music (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2004). We currently use an in-house packet of materials for twentieth-/twenty-first-century analytical techniques. Students may also want to consult textbooks such as Joseph Straus, Introduction to Post-tonal Theory (Prentice-Hall, Third Edition, 2004) or Arnold Whittall, Musical Composition in the Twentieth Century (Oxford University Press, 2000). Some other books that the student might find helpful for review of music theory are:

Douglass Green, Form in Tonal Music (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, second edition, 1979) Steven Laitz, The Complete Musician (Oxford University Press, second edition, 2007)

Music Theory courses offered in the School of Music include:

Fundamentals of Music (undergraduate non-majors) Basic undergraduate theory core: Syntax, Structure and Style of Music I, II, III, IV Introduction to Twentieth- and Twenty-First-Century Compositional Techniques Rhythmic Analysis of Tonal Music 16th-Century Counterpoint 18th-Century Counterpoint Choral Arranging, Band Arranging Orchestration Keyboard Harmony and Score Reading Introduction to Electronic Music; Introduction to Digital Synthesis Analysis of Musical Styles Pedagogy of Music Theory Seminar in Music Theory Problems in Music Theory (individual subjects); Research (thesis course for theory majors)

Any questions concerning the theory proficiency exam may be directed to Dr. Neil Minturn, Area Coordinator, Composition and Music Theory (573-882-7680 or MinturnN@missouri.edu).