 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
UTSA Department of Music
Graduate Advisory Examination
Music HistoryAll prospective graduate students are required to take a placement examination in music history. The exams are scheduled on the Saturdays before the beginning of class each semester In preparation for the exam, students are advised to consult one of the following texts:
- Burkholder, Peter J., Donald Jay Grout, and Claude V. Palisca. A History of Western Music, 7th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005.
- Wright, Craig and Bryan Simms. Music in Western Civilization. Belmont: Thomson Schirmer, 2006.
- Bonds, Mark Evan. A History of Music in Western Culture, 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2006
- Barbara Russano Hanning. Concise History of Western Music, 3rd ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005.
The exam will be divided into two parts: 1) unknown listening and 2) factual information. A multiple choice format will be used throughout. The unknown listening contains ten musical examples that embody the most characteristic styles and genres of Western art music. Students will answer questions about the salient musical features of each selected work. They may be asked to provide the names of likely composers, approximate dates of composition, and appropriate historical periods. Students will not be required to designate exact titles of musical works, but rather to speak to the historical movements and musical characteristics such works represent.
Examples of selected styles and genres to review for the unknown listening portion of the exam may include:
- Medieval (Gregorian chant, organum, motet)
- Renaissance (Mass, motet, madrigal)
- Baroque (opera, trio sonata, concerto)
- Classic (symphony, sonata, string quartet)
- Romantic (piano character piece, lied, orchestral works, opera)
- Twentieth-Century (impressionism, expressionism, serialism, electronic music)
In the factual section, students will demonstrate their knowledge of the historical and aesthetic movements that shaped musical life from the time of the Greeks to the present. In this portion of the test, questions will be drawn from each chapter of Hanning (or alternatively, Burkholder/Grout/Palisca). In studying for this portion of the test, students are encouraged to distill the wealth of detailed factual information in these by focusing on the sociomusical developments of the principal historical periods and the primary styles, composers, and genres encompassed by each.
All students are required to bring a no. 2 pencil and Parscore Test form No. X-101864 or Scantron test form no. 882-E to the exam (the 100-question forms). Parscore and Scantron forms can be purchased in the bookstore and at the information desk in the University Center. There are no individual modules to this test; a score of at least 70% overall certifies that a student has successfully completed the music history entrance requirement.
Revised on 9.28.2007
The University of Texas at San Antonio Department of Music
One UTSA Circle, San Antonio, Texas 78249
210.458.4354
Questions & Comments
©2003-2004 University of Texas at San Antonio