Undergraduate Music Placement Exams

All new students in B.Mus. or L.Mus. (except Jazz streams), regardless of previous college or university courses and credits, must take the mandatory placement tests in theory (MUTH) before taking any theory courses. Musicianship (MUSP) placement tests are optional. Students who choose not to take musicianship placement tests will begin with MUSP 140 and 141 in their first year.

Optional placement tests available:

1. Music Theory Fundamentals, MUTH 150/151
2. Musicianship MUSP 140/141/240/241
3. Keyboard Proficiency MUSP 170/171*

*B.Mus. and L.Mus. students whose main instrument of study at McGill is piano, organ, or harpsichord are automatically exempt from MUSP 170 and 171. Lute players may request to use any Continuo course (MUPG 272D, MUPG 372D, or MUPG 670) as equivalent to both MUSP 170 and MUSP 171 once they complete the Continuo course.

DETAILED EXAM INFORMATION:

Students wishing to have advanced standing and be exempt from prerequisite courses may do the following diagnostic tests in theory and musicianship during the official placement exam period.

1. THEORY

There are three theory placement tests: Music Theory Fundamentals, MUTH 150, and MUTH 151. Students can prepare for these tests by studying the free open-access music-theory textbook Open Music Theory (v. 2), available at https://viva.pressbooks.pub/openmusictheory/, or a standard undergraduate music-theory textbook, such as A Concise Introduction to Tonal Harmony by Burstein and Straus. Practice exercises are available on the website https://www.teoria.com/.

Music Theory Fundamentals All students must take the music fundamentals test, which covers intervals, keys (including relative major and minor), scales and scale degrees, and triads and seventh chords. Students who do not score 80% or more are strongly advised to enroll in MUAR 201 Basic Materials: Western Music.

MUTH 150: Music Theory and Analysis 1
All students must take the MUTH 150 test, which covers basic harmonic analysis, including identifying keys, chords (Roman numerals and figured bass), nonharmonic tones (passing, neighbor, suspension, anticipation), and cadences (PAC, IAC, HC, DC), as well as basic voice leading, including resolving dominant and diminished 7th chords. The lowest passing grade for this placement exam is 75%.

MUTH 151: Music Theory and Analysis 2 Students who wish to be exempt from MUTH 151 may take that test, which is not required. The MUTH 151 exam covers harmonic sequences, types of 6/4 chords (cadential, passing, neighbouring, arpeggiating), applied harmonies (secondary dominants) and other chromatic chords (Neapolitan and augmented 6th chords), and modulation. The lowest passing grade for this placement exam is 80%.
 

2. MUSICIANSHIP (MUSP 140/141/240/241)

A. First Interview. This will determine possible exemption from Musicianship Training MUSP 140/141. You sight-sing (with or without solfège) a melody that appears on the screen and identify intervals and triads by quality (e.g., major, minor, diminished, augmented) and inversion (e.g., 6/3 or first inversion, etc.). If you succeed in these tasks, you will be asked to take a second interview. If you qualify for a second interview, you will receive notification via your McGill email address shortly after your first interview.

B. Second Interview. This will determine possible exemption from Musicianship Training MUSP 240/241. You sight-sing atonal melodies and identify chromatic chords in a harmonic progression, including seventh chords, applied dominants, augmented sixths, and modal mixture, by quality and inversion.

3. KEYBOARD PROFICIENCY (MUSP 170/171)

• Sight read a short example in two parts.
• Transpose a simple melody at sight.
• Construct chords at the keyboard (root position and inverted triads and 7th chords).

• Resolve dominant and diminished 7^th chords in 4 voices.
• Play progressions from chord symbols (for example, I–V6/ii–ii–V6–I) in keys with up to 4 sharps or flats or play a similar progression from figured bass.
• Read a simple score in more than two staves using treble, bass and alto clefs.

All incoming B.Mus. Jazz Performance, B.Mus. Faculty Program (Jazz) and L.Mus. Jazz Performance students can seek advanced standing for first year core jazz courses (MUJZ 160, 161 and MUSP 123, 124) by completing a Jazz Placement Exam on MyCourses. This placement test is optional.

If you do not wish to take the placement test, you are expected to register for the 100-level MUJZ core courses as shown in the sample first year course plan for your program.

By default, all new students are placed in the following prerequisite courses:

• Jazz Materials MUJZ 160/161
• Jazz Keyboard Proficiency MUJZ 170/171
  Jazz guitar and jazz piano students are automatically exempt from MUJZ 170 and MUJZ 171.
• Jazz Ear Training MUSP 123/124

Note: Students in B.Mus. Faculty Jazz have the option to take MUTH 150 & 151 placement tests alongside the jazz ones in the first year or wait until the second summer to take the theory placement tests. Detailed info about the MUTH placement tests can be found under Placement Exam information by program for B.Mus., L.Mus. (except Jazz stream).

• The level (and section assignment) for each prerequisite course will be determined by the results of the interview.

Preparation for Placement Test:

For placement in Jazz Materials MUJZ 160-161: You will be tested orally on your knowledge of scales, voicings and chord-scale relationships.

For placement in Jazz Keyboard Proficiency MUJZ 170-171:You will be tested on basic piano skills using standard jazz repertoire.

For placement in Jazz Ear Training MUJZ 123-124: You will be asked to identify chords, sing various scales by ear and sight-sing a short passage.