05.03 Placement Examinations and Remediation
All entering graduate students are required to take placement examinations in music theory and music history before registering for any course. Students majoring in jazz and contemporary media should also refer to their individual degree requirements for information regarding additional placement exams within their department.
Details about content of the music history and music theory placement exams, and suggestions about how to prepare for them will be made available to new students by the admissions office once the student's enrollment deposit has been received. These exams are normally given during the week preceding the start of fall, spring and summer terms. Faculty members of the music theory and musicology departments grade the exams, and the results are made available to the students prior to course registration. Students are urged to carefully note their placement exam results, and to take any required remedial courses as early in their degree program as possible.
Students who are unable to take the placement examinations on the prescribed date due to a documented emergency may, with the permission of the chairs of the music theory and musicology departments, be able to take them after classes have begun. Those who follow this procedure will, as a result, register late, miss class sessions, and may find that space is no longer available in some classes.
Students whose background in music theory is found to be deficient will be required to take one or both of the remedial music theory courses: TH 117 and TH 118 Theory, Analysis and Musicianship Review (1.5 credits each). These courses will not count toward the total credits of any degree program nor fulfill any degree requirement, and they may not be used as electives. However, credits earned in these courses will count toward the student's credit load during the semester that they are taken.
Masters students who must take TH 118 Theory, Analysis and Musicianship Review may not enroll for any 400- or 500-level music theory course until TH 118 has been satisfactorily completed.
Doctoral students who do not pass the theory placement exam will be required to take a special section of TH 117 and/or TH 118. If the student receives a grade of “B+” or better in TH 118 s/he will have met the DMA Theory Skills Exam requirement. All DMA students must pass the Skills Exam or receive a grade of “B+” or better in TH 118 before they are allowed to register for any theory courses at the 400 or 500 level.
MM and MA degree students who continue on to a DMA or PhD program will be required to take the DMA skills exam (as distinct from the Masters placement exam) when they enter the DMA degree.
Students whose music history background is found to be deficient will be required to make up for this in a manner which may vary from individual to individual. Some may be required to take MHS 119 (Music History Review - 1.5 credits), a review course that does not count toward the total required credits for any degree, and may not be used as elective credit. However, the course will count toward the student's credit load during the semester that it is taken.
Other students may be required to take one or more of the music history courses numbered MHS 421 through MHS 426, each of which concentrate on a specific historical period.
Those entering the DMA or PhD program with a previous master's degree from Eastman are not required to take the music history placement exams for a second time, unless they did not receive passing scores on the Medieval and Renaissance portions of the exam (the first 32 questions of the exam). Students in this situation should plan to retake this portion of the placement exam and achieve passing scores; if not, they will be required to take MHS 421 and/or MHS 422 to make up the deficiencies.
In addition to the courses mentioned above, a review language course or courses may be required in certain cases. Remedial courses do not count toward the total required credits for any graduate degree, and may not be used as elective credit. However, they will count toward the student's credit load during the semester that they are taken.
(Updated 6/03/09)
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