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Graduate Entrance Exams
Graduate students entering the IU Jacobs School of Music take the Graduate Entrance Examination in Music History & Literature. The exam evaluates their preparation for graduate-level course work at IU. Students have have two opportunities to take the exam, before their first and second semesters of enrollment.
Students who pass the exam are ready to take graduate music history courses. Students who do not pass the exam must take MUS-M 501 Proseminar in Music History (3 cr.) and earn a grade of C or better before taking graduate music history courses.
For additional information, click here.
Language Proficiency Exams
M.A. Musicology majors must demonstrate reading knowledge of French, German, Italian, Latin, Russian, or Spanish. The Ph.D. in Musicology requires reading knowledge of two non-English languages. The first language must be French, German, Italian, Latin, Russian, or Spanish; the second should be relevant to the student’s research area.
For additional information, click here.
Keyboard Proficiency Exams
Incoming Musicology majors will need to take the keyboard proficiency examination, administered through the Secondary Piano department. Procedures and dates are posted on the Keyboard Proficiency page.
- Play at concert pitch, at a steady tempo and in correct rhythm, a single-line melody for any transposing instrument from an orchestral score of the common-practice period (e.g., clarinet in E-flat, B-flat, and A, horns in F and E-flat).
- Play at a steady tempo (but not necessarily at the tempo indicated) and in correct rhythm an excerpt from a four-part open score of a relatively homophonic work made available for study 48 hours in advance of the keyboard examination. The example selected will be a string-quartet or the string parts from a symphony.
- Play at a steady tempo (but not necessarily at the tempo indicated) and in correct rhythm, with appropriate phrasing and nuance, a short solo piano work or excerpt, made available for study 48 hours in advance of the keyboard examination. The work should be comparable to pieces such as those in J. S. Bach’s Little Notebook or Bartók’s Mikrokosmos, Book 3, or to Movement II of the second of Beethoven’s Two Easy Sonatas, op. 49, or Chopin’s Prelude in E Minor, op. 28, no. 4.
For additional information, click here.
Doctoral Minor Field Exams
For more information about Minor Field Exams for non-musicology majors, click here.
Musicology Master of Arts Exam
The MA Examination is given each April. The morning portion involves responding to specific questions about three compositions. The afternoon is devoted to three essays intended to test your ability to develop a music historical narrative. These questions are drawn from a pool provided several months in advance. Exam questions are solicited from all members of the musicology faculty.
For additional information, click here.
Doctor of Philosophy Qualifying Exams
Doctoral degree students become candidates for their degrees when they have passed the qualifying examinations and have been recommended by their advisory committee to the dean of the University Graduate School or the dean of the School of Music.
It is to a student’s advantage to take qualifying exams as soon as possible after course work is finished. Written exams may be taken during the last semester of doctoral course work, as long as all course work for that field has been completed.
All portions of the doctoral qualifying exams (written and oral) must be completed within one calendar year. Any requests for exceptions must be made in writing to the Director of Graduate Studies, who is also available for general advising on the qualifying exam process.
For additional information, click here.
Transfer Credit for M401 and M402
For undergraduate transfer students wishing to receive credit transfer credit for M401 and M402, please review our Policy on Acceptance of Transfer Credit in Fulfilling the Undergraduate Music History Requirement at Indiana University here.