All transfer students who wish to receive credit for music theory courses taken at other institutions are required to take a placement examination. The examination, which is given one or two days before the beginning of each term, includes but is not limited to the following.
- Melody harmonization in chorale style
- Diatonic and chromatic harmony and part-writing
- Roman numeral/figured bass analysis
- Figured bass realization
- Analysis of form
Special emphasis is placed on the music of the common-practice era.
Students take one of two examinations, depending upon the number of course hours they wish to transfer. One test draws upon materials covered in the first two semesters of the core music theory sequence at the University of Alabama and consists of portions of the final examinations from those semesters; the other draws upon materials covered in the third and fourth semesters of that sequence and consists of portions of the final examinations from those semesters.
Preparing for the Exam
In preparation for the examination, students may wish to review one or more standard undergraduate textbooks. We recommend the following:
- Harmony and Voice Leading, Edward Aldwell, Carl Schachter, and Allen Cadwallader (5th edition). 2019, Boston: Cengage. This is the textbook used in the first three semesters of the core music theory sequence at The University of Alabama and is the one we most strongly recommend. The chapters covered in each semester of that sequence are listed below.
- Semester 1 (MUS115): chapters 1–6 and 20–21
- Semester 2 (MUS117): chapters 7–16
- Semester 3 (MUS215): chapters 18–20, 23–27, and 28–31
- Other texts that cover essentially the same material include Allen Forte’s Tonal Harmony in Theory and Practice and Robert Gauldin’s Harmonic Practice in Tonal Music.
- Scales, Intervals, Keys, Triads, Rhythm and Meter, a programmed text by John Clough, Joyce Conley, and Claire Boge, published by Norton
- Form in Tonal Music by Douglas Green
- Form in Music by Wallace Berry