Piano Proficiency Exams

Piano Majors, Concentrations and BA students must pass a Keyboard Proficiency Exam including open score reading and transposition by the time they take the Upper Divisional Exam.  The exam is administered during the long semesters in the Accompanying Lab (MULB 1811) as part of the Sight-reading Lab. Students not taking MULB 1811 may be eligible to enroll in Functional Piano for private lessons, or study on their own, and then make an appointment to take the exam with Dr. Steven Harlos. The materials and requirements for the exam are as follows:

1. Open score - play one page of 4-part choral music from the score at sight.  Examples may be found in the anthology, Five Centuries of Choral Music (call number: M1495.F59), or similar repertoire.
2. Transposition - transpose a 4-part hymn from any standard hymnal up or down at the interval of a second or third, to be determined at the time of the examination.
3. Sight reading - read one page of piano music at sight.  If the student has taken MULB 1811, he/she should pass the sight reading exam with a grade of B- or better.

Piano majors, concentrations and BA students must play an Upper Divisional Examination at the end of the fourth semester of lessons. Repertoire for the jury varies with degrees (see Piano Handbook for details). For BA students, this is the final jury. Piano Majors and Concentration students must pass the exam to be allowed to enroll in 3500 level lessons.  The UDE is graded as a regular jury, with B considered as a passing grade. The UDE may be taken a maximum of two times.

The Concentration Proficiency is the final jury for concentration students with majors in Music Education, Jazz Studies, Composition, and Music Theory. The Concentration Proficiency is graded as a regular jury at the end of the 6th semester of lessons, with B considered as a passing grade. It may be taken a maximum of two times.

When students have completed the piano lessons required for their degree, they should have completed all of their classical piano repertoire requirements, and must demonstrate technical and musical proficiency at the piano.

These include:

• At least two Preludes and Fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier
• A complete Suite or Partita by J.S. Bach
• Four classical sonata movements (Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven)
• Four Etudes showing at least moderate technical maturity (Czerny op. 740 or above)
• Memory requirements—4 pages each semester
• Scale Routine—passed three ways (octaves, tenths, sixths, contrary motion, etc.)

For more information on the Scale Routine, please refer of the Piano Handbook.

***Students must present documentation at the Concentration Proficiency of having completed all the above requirements.