Preparing to be a Music Major

Preparing to be a Music Major:

The EKU School of Music does not currently have a placement exam for Music Theory. All incoming majors and minors will be enrolled in Beginning Theory I (MUS 181). Although this course includes a review of the fundamentals of music, it is highly recommended that incoming students make every effort to familiarize themselves with the basic materials of music before beginning their university studies.

Students should be prepared to do the following:

Identify and work with the following clefs: treble, bass, grand staff

Identify and work with all major and minor key signatures

Identify and work with all major scales

Identify and work with all natural, harmonic, and melodic minor scales

Identify and work with simple intervals

Spell and identify the following chords: major, minor, diminished, augmented, dominant 7^th

Identify basic note and rest values and work with rhythmic values in both simple and compound meters

Identify pitches on the piano keyboard

 Suggested references:

• Kostka, Stefan, Tonal Harmony With An Introduction to Twentieth-Century Music, 7^th edition, New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2013.
• www.musictheory.net