Music Theory Diagnostic Exam Study Topics
The following topics are covered on the Theory Diagnostic Exam. To assist in preparation, students may use a variety of study aids, including websites (www.teoria.com, openmusictheory.com, www.musictheory.net), textbooks (Tonal Harmony by Kostka/Payne, Scales, Intervals, Keys, Traids, Rhythm, and Meter by Clough/Conley), and mobile apps.
Aural Skills
- Identify time signature of a listening excerpt.
- Distinguish ascending and descending listening excerpts.
- Distinguish between major and minor mode.
- Distinguish between melodic steps and leaps.
- Melodic dictation of a mostly stepwise, major-mode melody.
Written Skills (necessary for MUS 120: Music Theory I)
- Identify pitches on staff with treble or bass clefs.
- Supply a time signature for a written excerpt
- Provide rhythmic counts
- Provide notation for basic rhythmic units: whole, half, quarter, eighth, and sixteenth note values.
- Write major and minor scales and key signatures.
Intermediate and Advanced Written Skills (recommended only for students with extensive practice with music theory)
- Intervals
- Figured bass realization
- Identify cadence types
- Describe phrase structures
- Resolve dominant seventh chords in four-part texture
- Roman numeral analysis, including identification of embellishing tones
- Tonal counterpoint, intervals, and voice leading
Undergraduate Music Theory Diagnostic Exam Registration Form