Graduate Admissions Procedure

For your convenience, this site contains current, relevant, and printable information.

Degree Specific Requirements

General Graduate Admission Requirements

There are two applications that will need to be completed in order to be accepted to enter the graduate study program at the UNT College of Music.

  • The applicant must apply for admission to the UNT Toulouse School of Graduate Studies. Applications must be completed online at www.tsgs.unt.edu. There is a $60 fee for this application. For information regarding international applications, see www.international.unt.edu. There is a $75 fee for this application.
  • Approximately ten days after you apply to UNT, you will receive an email which includes an EUID and password.  Follow the directions in that email to activate your EUID, then you may proceed to apply to the College of Music.
  • The applicant must apply for admission, audition, scholarship, fellowship and assistantships to the UNT College of Music - https://www.music.unt.edu/application/student/index.php. To be considered for admission in the Fall semester, preference will be given to applications received by the first Monday in December. Applications received after that date will be reviewed, and auditions will be scheduled on a case by case basis depending on space availability. There is not a fee for the College of Music Application.

    The on-line application will require you to submit names and email addresses of three people whom you wish to recommend you for music study at UNT. Only complete applications can be submitted.

  • Allow sufficient time for the application process.

Acceptance to the College of Music is contingent upon acceptance to the UNT Toulouse School of Graduate Studies. All applicants for College of Music graduate degree programs must have completed the course requirements for the preceding degree in the same field. The Dean of the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies will notify applicants of their acceptance to the university. The Dean of the College of Music will notify applicants of their acceptance to the College of Music.

Auditions

Applicants for admission to the M.M. or D.M.A. degree programs in performance must pass an admission audition before a faculty jury. Auditions are held only on the dates specified on the audition form. For information regarding accepted repertoire, see Audition Repertoire link above. For scholarship consideration, the audition must be completed by the last on-campus audition day.

Applicants for admission to the M.M. and D.M.A. degree programs in conducting must submit the College of Music application and preliminary audition video (DVD). Qualified applicants will be invited to campus for a live audition and interview. For information regarding acceptance to the D.M.A. in conducting, see Audition Repertoire link above.

Fellowships and Assistantships

The UNT College of Music application also serves as your application for fellowships and assistantships. Note: Three recommendations are required. Teaching fellowships and assistantships are awarded each spring for the following academic year to qualified applicants. Refer to the application for deadlines. Preference for fellowship and assistantship awards will be given to those who audition no later than the first Monday following the last on-campus audition day.

In order to receive full consideration for Master's and Doctoral Fellowships, you should complete the audition process by the first on-campus audition date in February.

Announcement of awards will begin the first Monday in April.

Scholarship

The UNT College of Music application also serves as your scholarship application. Three recommendations are required.

Announcement of awards will begin on the first Monday in April.

The National Association of Schools of Music Code of Ethics Article V. requires that the acceptance of financial aid or the signing of a declaration of intent to attend a given institution shall not be binding if signed before April 15, of the calendar year of matriculation into a program of study at the graduate level.

Orientation and Placement Exams

Graduate Piano Literature Exam

All piano performance majors are required to pass the Graduate Piano Literature Exam. The examination will be given each semester during the week of registration and orientation. If remedial coursework is assigned, the student must enroll in these courses in the first semester they are offfered.

Graduate Composition Examination

All graduate composition majors are required to take the Graduate Composition Examination. This 60-minute diagnostic examination assesses the student’s knowledge of contemporary composers and repertoire (through score and listening identification), terminology, bibliographic resources, and other information pertinent to composition in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Results of this examination will be used to advise students in curricular matters and to determine placement in composition-related courses.

Graduate Placement Examinations

All new College of Music graduate students must take the GPE or sign a waiver stating that they will complete the courses for each examination waived. The GPE covers theory, music history and music literature. The examination will be given each long semester during the week of registration and orientation. If remedial coursework is assigned based on the results of the GPE, the student must enroll in these courses in the first semester they are offered.

Description
  • Music History and Literature

    For incoming master's students:

    • 120 multiple-choice questions, 20 dealing with each historical period (Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classic, Romantic, 20th century).

    • 12 listening examples, with two questions per example. Two listening examples from each of the six periods. Listening questions measure understanding of genre, period style, and the style of major composers.

    The exam will be given in two sections, corresponding to pre- and post-1750, each section consisting of 60 multiple choice questions and 6 listening examples (two questions per example).

    The recommended method of preparing for the test is to study the 7th edition of A History of Western Music (Grout/Palisca/Burkholder) and its accompanying audio and score anthologies.

    For incoming doctoral students:

    • Pre-1750: 30 multiple-choice questions; 3 listening excerpts, 2 questions per excerpt (45 minutes); Post-1750: 30 multiple-choice questions; 3 listening excerpts, 2 questions per excerpt (45 minutes)The listening questions are designed to test understanding of period style, genre, and style of major composers. Doing well on this portion will not depend on knowing that specific piece.
    • Students will write two essays, one on a pre-1750 topic/excerpt, the other on a post-1750 topic/excerpt, from a set of prompts (45 minutes per essay).
  • Theory
    • Aural Perception (Ear Training): Error detection; identification of discrepancies between written scores and the music being played, in rhythm/meter, melody and harmonic sonority.
    • Written: (1) Analysis of a short composition from the 18th-19th centuries, with respect to thematic, structural, harmonic and other relevant parameters, and (2) Realization of figured-bass.
    • Sight-Singing: Singing at sight a melody characteristic of the 18th-19th centuries, containing chromaticism and modulation.
    • Keyboard Harmonization: Harmonization (providing an accompaniment at the piano) at sight of a melody typical of the 18th-19th centuries, with appropriate use of various types of altered chords.
Guidelines for Graduate Placement Examinations Results

Under current College of Music policies all new graduate students are required to take placement examinations in Music History and Literature and in four areas of music theory. It is the purpose of these tests to determine if prospective candidates for graduate degrees have adequate musicianship and scholastic preparation. All faculty members who advise graduate students should be informed of their entrance records and should be familiar with policies and procedures for removing any deficiencies revealed by the GPE.

Minimum acceptable scores are established by the musicology and theory faculties respectively. Special courses are provided for the removal of deficiencies which are determined by these examinations.

Policy for Satisfying the GPE Requirement
  • All new College of Music graduate students must take the GPE in the first semester of matriculation.
  • Students who fail the examination, or portions of the examination, must take the appropriate course(s) the first semester the course(s) is offered.
  • MM and PhD students who fail the GPE, or portions thereof, by 5 points or fewer have the option of petitioning the Director of Graduate Studies in Music to retake the failed portions of the GPE at the beginning of the next semester in which the student is enrolled. If the student fails a second time the appropriate course(s) must be taken the first semester the course(s) is offered. DMA students may not retake the GPE.
Coursework Deficiencies

The College of Music may request validation of any coursework or skill by examination or performance. Upon admission, a faculty member in the degree program area will evaluate the student's transcripts for deficiency coursework. During orientation, the Director of Graduate Studies in Music will notify applicants of any deficiency coursework determined by the transcript evaluation. Students are expected to complete deficiency coursework the first semester the courses are offered. A grade of C or better must be earned in each undergraduate or graduate course assigned as a deficiency.

Top