Students auditioning to BGSU and the College of Musical Arts will take a timed Music Theory Placement Exam. Transfer students, please read the information in the “Transfer Credit Information” section at the bottom of this page.

If auditioning:

• In-person: the exam will be administered the day of your audition. The exact time of the exam will be indicated on your individual audition schedule sent approximately one week prior to your audition date.
• Virtually or by Recording: the exam will be administered online through Canvas and will be open and available starting January 15, 2025.
  • Students are added to the Canvas exam using their BGSU username and course invitations will be sent to students' BGSU emails. In order to be added to the exam students MUST create their BGSU account.
    
  • The exam must be completed by midnight February 26^th, 2025.

Results of the exam will be shared with students via email once graded (approx. 2-3 weeks after the audition).

Students are able to take the exam a second time if they wish to better their score. This retake exam will be administered online in Canvas for everyone with a deadline of completion no later than May 15, 2025. Students should contact musicadmissions@bgsu.edu if they wish to utilize this option.

THE EXAM

• Determines placement regarding the appropriate theory class for the student’s level of knowledge.

• Covers music fundamentals including:

  – Pitch identification (staff and keyboard), standard notation practices (pitch and rhythm), basic musical terms and symbols
  – Writing major and minor scales
  – Major and minor key signatures
  – Identifying and constructing intervals
  – Identifying and constructing triads, including triads in inversions

Placement

The exam will place you into one of the following: 

• Basic Musicianship: a beginning level course that must be completed before Music Theory 1 can be taken. 

• Music Theory 1 & Accelerated Fundamentals: the first music theory course required in the College of Musical Arts core curriculum PLUS a supplemental course on theory fundamentals. 

• Music Theory 1: the first music theory course required in the College of Musical Arts core curriculum.

Suggested Preparation Materials

Materials listed below are suggestions to help assist you with preparation for the exam. These are just a few of the many resources available that cover music fundamentals. Choose one that works best for you. 

Textbooks 

• Elements of Music, 3rd ed., by Joseph N. Straus. Prentice Hall, 2011.  (ISBN-13: 978-0205007097)  

• Fundamentals of Music, 7th ed., by Earl Henry, Jennifer Snodgrass, and Susan Piagentini. Pearson, 2019. (ISBN-13: 9780134491387)

• The Musician’s Guide to Fundamentals, 3rd ed., by Jane Piper Clendinning, Elizabeth West Marvin, and Joel Phillips. W.W. Norton, 2018. (ISBN-13 : 978-0393639162) 

 Websites

• Music Fundamentals by Michael Sult (www.guitarland.com/Music10/MusFund/toc.htm) 

• MusicTheory.Net by Ricci Adams (www.musictheory.net)

• Teoría by José Rodríguez Alvira (www.teoria.com) 

• Odd Quartet’s Music Theory Course (www.oddquartet.com/musictheory)

• Basics of Classical Harmony and Counterpoint; Seth Monahan’s YouTube channel, Lessons 1–9 cover fundamentals topics.  (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6X9nEsddMpYNyxr3ZckjLg) 

Software available for purchase

• Fundamentals and Ear Training (http://www.macgamut.com) 

• Practica Musica (http://www.ars-nova.com)

Incoming music students will be placed in MUED 1500 (Introductory Class Piano). This class requires no prior piano experience, but familiarity with note identification in treble and bass clef, intervals, triads, key signatures, time signatures, and basic rhythms is extremely helpful.

Here are some websites that provide practice with these concepts:

• www.musictheory.net
• www.teoria.com
• http://pdmpiano.org/prelim_menu_page_EPDM.htm

Students may wish to know a little about what is covered in MUED 1500. Here is a brief overview, in case you would like to prepare for this course in advance:

1.   Major and minor 5-finger patterns, similar to those found here

2.  Chord progressions using correct voice leading, similar to those found here

3.  Sightreading (playing music previously unseen) and transposing (playing in a key different than the one written) using the 5-finger patterns and chords described above. Use the Piano setting on Level 4 at www.sightreadingfactory.com for practice with similar examples.

4.  Harmonizing and improvising melodies using the 5-finger patterns and primary chords mentioned above.

Students with significant prior piano experience can test out of class piano courses. All attempts to test out take place during the week before classes and the first week of each semester. Please contact the Class Piano Coordinator, Dr. Cole Burger for more information about testing out.