Keyboard Proficiency for Graduate Musicology Majors

Examination to be administered by a designated member of the Musicology faculty (for 2009-10: Professor Ford):

1. 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). 

2. 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. 

3. 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.

Examination times must be scheduled with the Musicology Office. See the calendar for dates and times.