McGILL UNIVERSITY SCHULICH SCHOOL OF MUSIC

GRADUATE PLACEMENT EXAMINATIONS – MUSIC THEORY

All students beginning graduate studies in Composition, Music Education, Music Technology and Theory are required to take placement examinations in order to determine that their academic preparation in Music is sufficient. On the basis of the results of these examinations, incoming students may be required to take certain remedial courses in Music History and Theory and, depending on their area of specialization, other undergraduate preparatory courses as well. All of these then form an additional part of the students’ program of study.

Students who are notified of their acceptance into graduate studies in Music are encouraged to prepare for the placement examinations by perusing the following general descriptions of the examinations. After a decision has been made on your admissibility to the graduate program and upon your acceptance of our offer of admission, these placement exam descriptions will be sent to you. The placement exams will be sent to you approximately one month after this date. You will have three weeks to complete and return them. You are not required to have an invigilator, but are expected to write these examinations unaided, without the use of text books and within the allocated time for each question. A list of books useful in preparation for the examinations can be found on page 6.

GENERAL DESCRIPTIONS

I. History [2 hours]

A. Write one essay to be chosen from a list of topics, to test knowledge of significant compositions, composers, historical trends, etc., from 1600 to the present. Topics build on answers to questions found at the end of chapters in texts such as Grout, Burkholder and Palisca’s A History of Western Music.

Sample questions: 1. Discuss the interaction of drama and musical form in the operas of Richard Wagner. 2. Discuss approaches to sonata form in the 19th century; include examples from the literature for orchestra and for piano and/or chamber music. 3. Discuss the interaction of text and form in the Lieder of Clara Wieck Schumann. 4. Discuss the origins, evolution and main characteristics of the music of a post-tonal composer of your choice; cite specific examples whenever possible. 5. Compare Haydn and Mozart as innovators.

B. Identification of musical excerpts (scores will be provided) to test knowledge of historical and stylistic trends.

Sample question: Briefly discuss the following excerpts. Suggest a composer, genre and date of composition for each, giving reasons for your answer. Where possible, indicate the probable form or approach to form in the excerpt, and identify where in the form the excerpt comes. 1. A passage from Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps. 2. A passage from a Beethoven symphony. 3. A motet by Josquin. 4. A passage from a tenor aria from Verdi’s Aida.

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II. Form and Analysis [2 hours]

A. The 19th-century analysis exam [1 hour] is an analysis of a large-scale form (usually one movement of a sonata), with discussion of its normative and non-normative aspects (as defined in Part IV of Caplin, Classical Form) and its motivic materials, as well as identification of chromatic harmonies as presented in Chs. 26-31 of Aldwell/Schachter/Cadwallader, Harmony and Voice Leading or a similar theory textbook (applied chords, extended and altered chords, Neapolitan sixth chords, and augmented sixth chords). The chapters include relevant exercises.

Sample question: Johannes Brahms, Sonata for clarinet and piano in F minor, op. 120 no. 1, mvt. 1 http://conquest.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/e/e0/IMSLP112444-PMLP52918- Brahms_Werke_Band_10_Breitkopf_JB_41_Op_120_No_1_filter.pdf

I. Keys, cadences, harmony. Annotate the score, using the symbols you are used to, the following two passages: mm. 1-24 and 77-89. Label all cadences and clearly indicate any modulations.

II. Form. Answer the following questions pertaining to the form. 1. In what measure does the main theme end? Why? 2. What are the boundaries of the transition? 3. In what measure does the subordinate theme group begin? Why? 4. To what extent does the tonal organization of the subordinate theme group conform to Classical norms (i.e., the music of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven)? 5. What is unusual about the tonal organization of the subordinate theme group in relation to Classical norms? 6. In what measure does the recapitulation begin? Why? 7. To what extent does the tonal organization of the recapitulation conform to Classical norms? 8. What is unusual about the tonal organization of the recapitulation in relation to Classical norms?

B. The post-tonal analysis exam is a consideration of the pitch structures in a work, using set theory or twelve-tone theory where appropriate, discussion of motivic relationships, and structural shifts in rhythm, texture, register and timbre. Chs. 1, 3, 7 and 10 of Roig-Francoli, Understanding Post-Tonal Music are recommended for study and include sample questions.

Sample question:

Charles Ives, “The Cage” http://javanese.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/5/52/IMSLP255985-SIBLEY1802.23812.0079- 39087030301123voice___piano__1st_mvt_.pdf

1. Analyze the pitch structures within the work, their potential for combinatorial and complement relationships, and the realization of such relationships, and/or lack thereof. 2. Discuss the phrase structure, rhythmic organization, texture within the piano part, relationship of piano and vocal parts, and use of register. 3. How do the musical elements discussed above relate to the title or text of the song? 4. Comment on which aspects of this song are typical of Ives’ compositional oeuvre, and which are not.

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III. Counterpoint [2 hours]

A. The modal counterpoint exam is a continuation of a melody in 3 voices, as in the exercises in Chs. 13-14 of Schubert, Modal Counterpoint.

Sample question:

Continue the following in three voices for 16-20 measures.

AND

B. The tonal counterpoint exam is to write the beginning of a fugue (exposition, first episode, at least one middle entry) on a given subject as in the exercises in Ch. 13 of Schubert and Neidhöfer, Baroque Counterpoint.

Sample question:

Compose the opening of a fugue in three voices on the subject below. Include the exposition, first episode and at least one middle entry.

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IV. Musicianship [15 minutes] The musicianship placement exam will be scheduled directly with the Chair of the Music Theory Area in September.

A. Keyboard and Harmony Skills

Sample questions:

1. Perform a short piece, prepared ahead of time, at this level of difficulty (RCM level 8):

2. Read at sight on the piano a passage similar to the following Bach chorale:

3. Realize a 4-voice from Roman numerals such as the following example:

i–V4–i6–iv–V7–VI–ii°6–V–I (in B minor) 3

4. Realize a 4-voice harmonic progression from a figured bass at the piano similar to the following example after briefly looking at it:

5. Harmonize a melody similar to the following in 4 voices at the piano after briefly looking at it:

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B. Musicianship Skills

6. Sight-sing a melody similar to the following:

7. Play a bass line at sight while singing the melody similar to the following:

8. Melodic dictation: transcribe a melody similar to the one in #5 above (but shorter). The melody will be played 4 times.

9: Harmonic dictation: using Roman numerals, notate a chord progression similar to the one below. The chord progression will be played 4 times.

[sample answer: I–vii°6–I6–IV–V6/V–V–IV6–V] 5

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SUPPLEMENTAL READING LIST

16th-Century Analysis: Mark Everist, ed. Music Before 1600. Models of Musical Analysis. Oxford: Blackwell, 1992.

19th-Century Analysis: E. Aldwell, C. Schachter, and A. Cadwallader, Harmony and Voice Leading, 4th ed., chaps. 28-33 S. Kostka, D. Payne, and B. Almen, Tonal Harmony, 7th ed., chaps. 21-25 William Caplin. Analyzing Classical Form. New York: Oxford University Press, May 2013.

20th-Century Analysis: Joel Lester. Analytic Approaches to Twentieth-Century Music. New York: W.W. Norton, 1989. Joseph N. Straus. Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2004. Miguel Roig-Francoli. Understanding Post-Tonal Music. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007.

Modal Counterpoint: Peter Schubert. Modal Counterpoint, Renaissance Style. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Tonal Counterpoint: Peter Schubert and Christoph Neidhöfer. Baroque Counterpoint. Prentice Hall, 2006.

Music History: Donald Grout and Claude Palisca. A History of Western Music, sixth edition. New York: Norton, 2001. Claude Palisca Norton Anthology of Western Music, fourth edition. New York: Norton, 2001. (Other editions are also fine).