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Preparation For D.M.A. Entrance Exams

The document provides information about the entrance exams for a D.M.A. program in two parts. The history exam is 1 1/2 hours and covers major facts, composers, works, styles, and theorists from Gregorian chant through the 20th century through short answer and essay questions. The theory exam also lasts 1 1/2 hours and covers common practice theory like species counterpoint and figured bass as well as 20th century techniques like set theory, 12-tone operations, and minimalist rhythmic techniques.

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Jamie Monck
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107 views

Preparation For D.M.A. Entrance Exams

The document provides information about the entrance exams for a D.M.A. program in two parts. The history exam is 1 1/2 hours and covers major facts, composers, works, styles, and theorists from Gregorian chant through the 20th century through short answer and essay questions. The theory exam also lasts 1 1/2 hours and covers common practice theory like species counterpoint and figured bass as well as 20th century techniques like set theory, 12-tone operations, and minimalist rhythmic techniques.

Uploaded by

Jamie Monck
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Preparation for D.M.A.

Entrance Exams

History Exam1 hours


This exam is intended to determine whether the candidate has a command of basic
undergraduate music history. The exam consists of mostly short-answer questions
(matching and multiple choice) covering the important facts of music history from
Gregorian chant to the Twentieth Century. For each historical period you should know
the style characteristics, the important composers, their major works, the genres that were
popular, the compositional techniques used (isorhythm, double fugue, thematic
transformation, Sprechstimme, etc.), major theorists (Zarlino, Rameau, Schenker, etc.)
and theoretical concepts (free atonality, Gesamtkunstwerk, etc.).
At the end of the short-answer portion of the exam there is an essay. You usually
get to choose your topic from several given. This essay is designed to show us how well
you write and organize your thinking. The topics are broad enough to give you plenty of
opportunity to have something to say on the subject.

Theory Exam1 hours


This exam covers all kinds of common practice period theory, including
harmonizing a melody in four parts, identifying types of non-harmonic tones, realizing a
figured bass, writing a tonal answer to a fugue subject, making invertible counterpoint,
writing species counterpoint, identifying types of cadences, building chromatic chords,
etc.
In addition, the exam covers the fundamentals of twentieth-century theory,
including 12-tone operations and concepts (combinatoriality, etc.), set theory, use of
modes (Scriabin, Messiaen, Debussy, Bartk), total serialization operations, minimalist
techniques (especially regarding rhythm).

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