Doctoral Qualifying Exam in Music Theory
1
BOSTON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS—SCHOOL OF MUSIC DOCTORAL QUALIFYING EXAM IN MUSIC THEORY The exam consists of four parts, divided into two sessions, and takes place in the practice rooms located in the basement of the CFA/Music building. You will be in an individual room with a piano, and should bring scratch manuscript paper and multiple pencils. You will have three hours to complete each session and are free to divide your time as you feel necessary between each of the two parts in each session. Please monitor your time carefully. N.B.: for Composition majors only—there is a fifth part consisting of a four-voice fugue to be written on a given subject at a separate time. Morning Session (9:00 am–12:00 pm) •PART ONE—TONAL ANALYSIS A short work or excerpt of Common-Practice music will be provided. Directed questions will cover aspects such as the music’s form, phrase structure and harmony. A Roman numeral analysis of various passages will be required. Other considerations might include areas of long-range voice leading, harmonic planning and motivic development. Placing the work in historical context, and identi- fying the likely composer might also be required. Works could be drawn from solo piano, chamber music, vocal or orchestral reper- toires. Instrumental transposition might be necessary here and/or in the post-tonal analysis section. Douglass M. Green’s Form in Tonal Music (Holt, Rinehart and Winston), Marjorie Merryman’s The Music Theory Handbook (Harcourt Brace & Company), and Stefan Kostka and Dorothy Payne’s Tonal Harmony (McGraw Hill) are three of many useful books which address these topics. •PART TWO—POST -TONAL ANALYSIS Works in this section might fall into the broad categories of “free atonality,” “centricity” or “scale-based” music, or “serial” (includ- ing twelve-tone) music. The Joseph Straus Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory (Prentice Hall) is an excellent source for reviewing the main approaches to post-tonal music, and includes many examples from which to study. As in the tonal analysis section, questions will be directed and specific, also possibly including placing the work in historical context, and identifying the likely composer. For serial pieces, a row might or might not be supplied, depending on the particular work. As in all analysis, identifying the salient fea- tures of the work is essential. Many useful examples of both tonal and post-tonal music can be found in anthologies like the Burkhart Anthology for Musical Analysis (Schirmer/Thompson) and the Turek Analytical Anthology of Music (McGraw-Hill). Lunch Break (12:00 pm–1:00 pm) Afternoon Session (1:00 pm–4:00 pm) •PART THREE—SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS Answer four out of eight questions. Topics including short essays, definitions, chord progression and figured-bass realizations, and chord identification/resolutions. Essay questions might include subjects such as chromatic harmonic structures, form, artificial scales, genres, types of dissonances, post-tonal structures, composers, rhythmic techniques, pedagogy, foreign terms, instrumental abbreviations, etc. Chord progression realizations will include Roman numerals (with no bass given), and will modulate. Figured- bass realizations will include a bass line with Arabic numerals to which one will provide Roman numerals. Chord identification/res- olutions consist of a series of standard chords which need to be identified in the appropriate key, and resolved in the standard man- ner. Samuel Adler’s The Study of Orchestration (W.W. Norton) thoroughly covers instrumental ranges and transpositions, and con- tains useful appendices of common terms and abbreviations. Sample Question: Consider the unordered pitch-class set [0,1,4,6] ([C,C#,E,F#]) as the prime form of a class of tetrachords related by transposition and inversion. What is its special feature? Do other types of tetrachords share this property? In what music would a tetrachord such as this play an important role? •PART FOUR—CHORALE HARMONIZATION A chorale melody will be provided to which one will create a stylistically appropriate harmonization, including the employment of proper cadential formulae and chord grammar. One will also be expected to supply a Roman numeral analysis with all non-har- monic tones marked. Please note that while secondary dominant and vii° 7 chords are quite frequently employed, advanced chro- matic structures such as Neapolitans, augmented 6th and b VI chords are not used in the chorale style. Conventions such as the employment of the vii° 6 rather than the passing V 6 4 or V 4 3 to harmonize 2 ^ , and the use of the fully-diminished vii° 7 chord in both major and minor keys, should be followed. Many texts cover aspects of the chorale style. Salzer and Schachter’s Counterpoint in Composition (Columbia University Press) is a good source, particularly for delineating the contrapuntal nature of the style. Thoroughly familiarizing oneself with the actual chorales of J.S. Bach is essential. Many editions are readily available, including the 1941 Riemenschneider edition (G. Schirmer).
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Doctoral Qualifying Exam in Music Theory
Transcript of Doctoral Qualifying Exam in Music Theory
BOSTON UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS—SCHOOL OF MUSIC
DOCTORAL QUALIFYING EXAM IN MUSIC THEORY
The exam consists of four parts, divided into two sessions, and takes place in the practice rooms located in the basement of theCFA/Music building. You will be in an individual room with a piano, and should bring scratch manuscript paper and multiple pencils.You will have three hours to complete each session and are free to divide your time as you feel necessary between each of the two partsin each session. Please monitor your time carefully. N.B.: for Composition majors only—there is a fifth part consisting of a four-voicefugue to be written on a given subject at a separate time.
Morning Session (9:00 am–12:00 pm)
•PART ONE—TONAL ANALYSIS
A short work or excerpt of Common-Practice music will be provided. Directed questions will cover aspects such as the music’s form,phrase structure and harmony. A Roman numeral analysis of various passages will be required. Other considerations might includeareas of long-range voice leading, harmonic planning and motivic development. Placing the work in historical context, and identi-fying the likely composer might also be required. Works could be drawn from solo piano, chamber music, vocal or orchestral reper-toires. Instrumental transposition might be necessary here and/or in the post-tonal analysis section. Douglass M. Green’s Form inTonal Music (Holt, Rinehart and Winston), Marjorie Merryman’s The Music Theory Handbook (Harcourt Brace & Company), andStefan Kostka and Dorothy Payne’s Tonal Harmony (McGraw Hill) are three of many useful books which address these topics.
•PART TWO—POST-TONAL ANALYSIS
Works in this section might fall into the broad categories of “free atonality,” “centricity” or “scale-based” music, or “serial” (includ-ing twelve-tone) music. The Joseph Straus Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory (Prentice Hall) is an excellent source for reviewing themain approaches to post-tonal music, and includes many examples from which to study. As in the tonal analysis section, questionswill be directed and specific, also possibly including placing the work in historical context, and identifying the likely composer. Forserial pieces, a row might or might not be supplied, depending on the particular work. As in all analysis, identifying the salient fea-tures of the work is essential. Many useful examples of both tonal and post-tonal music can be found in anthologies like theBurkhart Anthology for Musical Analysis (Schirmer/Thompson) and the Turek Analytical Anthology of Music (McGraw-Hill).
Lunch Break (12:00 pm–1:00 pm)
Afternoon Session (1:00 pm–4:00 pm)
•PART THREE—SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS
Answer four out of eight questions. Topics including short essays, definitions, chord progression and figured-bass realizations, andchord identification/resolutions. Essay questions might include subjects such as chromatic harmonic structures, form, artificialscales, genres, types of dissonances, post-tonal structures, composers, rhythmic techniques, pedagogy, foreign terms, instrumentalabbreviations, etc. Chord progression realizations will include Roman numerals (with no bass given), and will modulate. Figured-bass realizations will include a bass line with Arabic numerals to which one will provide Roman numerals. Chord identification/res-olutions consist of a series of standard chords which need to be identified in the appropriate key, and resolved in the standard man-ner. Samuel Adler’s The Study of Orchestration (W.W. Norton) thoroughly covers instrumental ranges and transpositions, and con-tains useful appendices of common terms and abbreviations.
Sample Question: Consider the unordered pitch-class set [0,1,4,6] ([C,C#,E,F#]) as the prime form of a class of tetrachordsrelated by transposition and inversion. What is its special feature? Do other types of tetrachords share thisproperty? In what music would a tetrachord such as this play an important role?
•PART FOUR—CHORALE HARMONIZATION
A chorale melody will be provided to which one will create a stylistically appropriate harmonization, including the employment ofproper cadential formulae and chord grammar. One will also be expected to supply a Roman numeral analysis with all non-har-monic tones marked. Please note that while secondary dominant and vii°7 chords are quite frequently employed, advanced chro-matic structures such as Neapolitans, augmented 6th and bVI chords are not used in the chorale style. Conventions such as theemployment of the vii°6 rather than the passing V6
4 or V43 to harmonize 2̂, and the use of the fully-diminished vii°7 chord in both
major and minor keys, should be followed. Many texts cover aspects of the chorale style. Salzer and Schachter’s Counterpoint inComposition (Columbia University Press) is a good source, particularly for delineating the contrapuntal nature of the style.Thoroughly familiarizing oneself with the actual chorales of J.S. Bach is essential. Many editions are readily available, including the1941 Riemenschneider edition (G. Schirmer).
