Placement Tests
The Music Placement Exams help determine the appropriate course placement for incoming and transfer students in music history and music theory. These exams ensure that students begin their studies at FIU with the right academic foundation, based on their previous coursework, knowledge, and degree requirements. Students should review the information below carefully to understand who is required to take each exam, how to access or schedule the exam, what topics are covered, and who to contact with questions.
The Music History Placement Exam is required of all incoming graduate students and undergraduates who have taken a music history sequence at the 3000 level or above and must be taken prior to their first semester at FIU. It measures whether incoming students have attained the same level of music history knowledge as do FIU students who have completed the music history course sequence here. The 100 multiple-choice questions are drawn from the final comprehensive exam that FIU undergraduate music majors must pass in order to complete their music history requirements. This exam assesses their command of the main historical eras and the association of genres, composers, concepts, and terms with the eras to which they belong. We also ask them to name the composers of a number of significant compositions and to identify the composer or theorist associated with several important musical concepts and terms. They must also classify genres as secular or sacred.
The Music History Placement Exam determines whether graduate students must take:
MUH 5219, Graduate Music History Review – Note that this is a fully online class.
and whether transfer students who have taken a two-semester music history survey sequence at the 3000 level or above must take:
MUH 3211, Music History Survey I and MUH 3212, Music History Survey II
Entering FTICs (first time in college, i.e., freshpersons) who have not taken music history at the 3000 level or its equivalent at another institution do not need to take the placement exam and must register for MUH 3211 at their first opportunity.
Accessing the Exam
The Music History Placement deadline is 11:59 PM on August 20 and is taken online. Students must first register with Dr. Dolata at dolatad@fiu.edu in order to take the exam and to ask any questions they may have. The Music History Placement Exam can be taken only once. Students must use their FIU email address to access the exam.
Click here to access the Music History Placement Exam Instructions.
Graduate Students
All incoming and transfer graduate students except those in Jazz Performance, Music Technology, and Performing Arts Management are required to take the Music History Placement Exam. Students must take the exam prior to their first semester at FIU because the remedial course MUH 5219, Graduate Music History Review, which graduate students must take if they do not pass the exam, is offered only every odd-numbered fall semester: Fall 2023, Fall 2025, etc. Thus, failure to take the Music History Placement Exam before the first semester at FIU may delay graduation.
Passing the Music History Placement Exam or earning a grade of B or better in MUH 5219 is required to fulfill the prerequisite for MUH 6937 Special Topics in Music History, the graduate music history course most FIU graduate programs require. MUH 6937 is usually offered every Spring.
Note that graduate students may also elect to not take the placement exam and enroll directly into MUH 5219.
Graduate students who are alumni of FIU do not need to take the Music History Placement Exam.
Transfer Students
FIU accepts MUH 3211 and MUH 3212 transfer credits from other State of Florida universities to satisfy the music history requirement. Since students at two-year colleges such as Miami-Dade and Broward take music history at the 2000 level, these courses do not transfer. Thus, students from MDC and BC cannot take the exam and must register for MUH 3211 at their earliest opportunity.
Students from universities outside of Florida or private Florida universities may pass out of either MUH 3211 and MUH 3212 on the condition that they have taken the music history sequence at the 3000 level or above and must have attained the same level of music history knowledge as do FIU students who have completed the music history course sequence here.
Music History Placement Exam Policies
The Music History Placement Exam is given to each student only once. There are no “retakes.”
Resources
In addition to reviewing the material a music history textbook (Stolba, Grout, Hanning, Taruskin, Wright, Boyd, etc.) and class notes, two other short music history review books may be worth consulting:
Wold, Milo and Edmund Cykler. An Outline History of Music. Dubuque, Iowa: W.D. Brown, 1985.
Poultney, David. Studying Music History: Learning, Reasoning, and Writing about Music History and Literature. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1983.
In all cases, any edition of the book will be helpful.
At FIU, we currently use Hanning’s Concise History of Western Music for the undergraduate music history sequence and the graduate review classes.
Exam Results
Students will receive their exam results and music history course requirements by e-mail within 24 hours of taking the exam with a copy sent to their applied instructor or area coordinator and School of Music Director of Graduate Studies or Undergraduate Advisor.
Contact Information
For further information, contact Dr. Dolata at dolatad@fiu.edu.
All incoming undergraduates who take music theory at FIU must take a theory placement test. They should take this test at the time of their audition, unless they are currently enrolled in a theory class (ie., a high school AP theory class or a theory class at another university), in which case they may wish to postpone until just before the start of the semester in which they enter FIU.
There is no formal bachelor’s or master’s degree in Music Theory. Interested undergraduate students may pursue a concentration in theory within the context of the B.A. in music. Admission to the B.A. in music, like all of our undergraduate programs, requires an instrumental or vocal audition. To audition for the School of Music, please contact the Area Coordinator for your performance area.
All incoming undergraduates who wish to (or need to) take music theory at FIU must take a theory placement test. They should take this test at the time of their audition, unless they are currently enrolled in a theory class (ie., a high school AP theory class or a theory class at another university), in which case they may wish to postpone until just before the start of the semester in which they enter FIU.
Graduate students in the M.M. program in Composition study some advanced theory and may have the opportunity to serve as a Graduate Assistant in Music Theory. There is no audition for the M. M. in Composition. Rather, applicants should contact Dr. Orlando Garcia at garciao@fiu.edu to arrange for an interview and submission of a portfolio.
Upcoming Placement Exam Dates
Music Theory placement tests for all levels will be offered on Thursday August 20 from 12 to 5 PM in the Recital Hall (WPAC 150). Please arrive by 3 PM to ensure that you have time to complete the exam.
Students should allow themselves between one to three hours to take the exam.
Expectations for Theory Placement Exams
To place into Theory I, we expect familiarity with the following:
• notation of rhythm and meter, including compound meters
• scale types: major, natural minor, harmonic minor, melodic minor
• triad types: major, minor, diminished, augmented
• seventh-chord types: dominant, major, minor, diminished half-diminished
• inversions of triads and seventh chords and the figured-bass symbols that denote them (6, 6/4, 7, 6/5, 4/3, 4/2 or simply 2; note that the absence of a figure indicates a 5/3 chord).
If you are rusty on figure-bas symbols or they are new to you, you can still get into Theory I if the rest of the test is sound.
To place into Theory II, we expect the above plus the following:
• ability to realize figured and unfigured basses and melodies using diatonic triads and seventh chords (along with their idiomatic inversions)
• ability to use the cadential 6/4 chord
• ability to modulate to V in major and to III in minor
To place into Theory III, we expect the above plus the ability to recognize and use the following:
• diminished and half-diminished leading-tone seventh chords
• applied (i.e., “secondary”) dominant and leading-tone chords
• harmonic sequences
• diatonic modulations beyond those mentioned for Theory II
• melodic and rhythmic embellishments (various kinds of passing tones, skips, neighbor tones, suspensions, and anticipations)
To place into Theory IV, we expect the above plus the ability to recognize and use the following:
• borrowed chords (i.e., chords generate via modal mixture)
• ninth chords (and other extensions)
• the Neapolitan (also known as bII or “Phrygian II)
• the various augmented-sixth chords
• chromatic voice-leading techniques
• chromatic modulations
To place completely out of the Theory Sequence:
• All of the above plus individual appointment with Professor Joel Galand
To place out of Graduate Theory Review:
• All of the above, plus some knowledge of classical form (e.g., binary forms, sonata forms, etc.) plus some familiarity with post-tonal materials (e.g., ability to recognize whole-tone and octatonic collections).
For Practice
You may review the appropriate chapters from our undergraduate tonal harmony textbook Aldwell, Edward, and Carl Schachter. Harmony and Voice Leading. 4th ed. Belmont, CA: Schirmer, 2011. We suggest you try your hand at the chapter exercises. Fundamentals covers materials in chapters 1-4 and 6, Theory I goes through chapter 14, Theory II through chapter 23, Theory III through chapter 28, and Theory IV through the end. The reason the more advanced courses move more slowly is that we increasingly incorporate other topics not reflected directly in the text, such as form, model composition, and post-tonal techniques.
Contact Information
For further information, contact Dr. Joel Galand at galandj@fiu.edu or 305-348-7078.