THE MUSIC HISTORY PLACEMENT EXAM

A Music History Placement exam is given each fall during orientation week (see Orientation Schedule for details). The exam has two sections: the first covers music between 1700 and 1900; the second covers music of the 20^th and 21^st centuries. Knowledge of music before 1700 is a great thing, but you do not need it to pass this exam. Students who score poorly on the first section of the exam should take MHL 602 (Topics in Music History – 18^th and 19^th centuries) in their first year of study at the Conservatory. Students who score poorly on the second section should take MHL 603 (Topics, 20^th and 21^st centuries) in their first year. Students who do poorly on both sections of the exam will need to take both Topics courses. Undergraduates who have taken music history courses at another institution may take the placement exam to demonstrate their knowledge in lieu of taking Music 202/203/204.

Each section has two parts. The first tests general knowledge of music history. It consists of short answer, true-false, and multiple choice questions based on Burkholder-Grout-Palisca A History of Western Music (7th edition). The second section consists of score identifications. Students will be given about fifteen xeroxed excerpts drawn from the Norton Anthology of Western Music (5th edition) and asked to identify the genre of music, the composer, and the approximate date of composition. For some examples students will hear a recording as well as seeing the score.

The best way to study for the first part of the exam is to use the Norton website: http://www.wwnorton.com/college/music/grout7/home.htm. The “online listening lab” and the “flash cards” sections are particularly useful. Students can review the material by clicking on “Chapter outlines,” or by reading A History of Western Music. You don’t need to study anything before Chapter 18.

To study for the second half of the exam, go to the Score ID Practice Page. There you will find a PDF file with about 50 score excerpts from the Norton Anthology. Look at each example and try to hear the music in your mind’s ear. Also look for visible clues, such as number of parts, instrumentation, language, text, etc. Make your best guess about composer, genre and date, and then rotate the page to see the answers. On the placement exam the scores will be drawn from all the scores in the Norton Anthology, not just the scores on the Practice Page.

Students are not expected to know the answers to every question on the Norton website or to be able to identify and date all the scores in the Anthology. But the more you review on the websites and the more you practice answering questions like these, the better you will do on the exam. The majority of students pass one or both sections every year.

A few masters students entered the Conservatory before Fall 2008 but did not take the placement exam or the review course. These students should take the Music History Placement exam this fall so they can be placed in Topics in Music History courses as necessary.