How Can You Prepare to Study Music at University?

Studying music at university is a wonderfully enriching cultural experience. It's also a challenging educational one. University-trained musicians are expected to have much knowledge of their art. At Mount Allison we are committed to helping you reach the highest standards of today's professional musicians. Not surprisingly, our expectations of you are also high. We often find that the better a student's preparation before coming to university, the greater the student's success while here.

What kinds of preparation should you be thinking of? Below, we offer guidelines and suggestions in a number of areas that we consider important. We realize, of course, that students come to our programmes with a wide diversity of backgrounds. You may find that your knowledge of the areas detailed below is already far advanced. Or you may be just beginning to explore some of these areas. Either way, we wish you to take these guidelines not as hurdles to be overcome, but as encouragement to further your musical experience.

Music theory

You should know the rudiments of music, at least up to the Grade 2 standard of the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto. Indeed, you may well find it beneficial to prepare for and write the RCM Grade 2 Rudiments exam. Doing so is an excellent way to give direction to your university preparation in music theory.

We consider knowledge in the following areas important.

Notation. Fluency in reading music in treble and bass clefs; accidentals; note and rest values; duplets, triplets, and other "tuplets"; simple and compound time signatures and normal groupings of note values.
Intervals. The ability to name by sight, and to notate, all intervals from the unison to the octave in all qualities (major, minor, perfect, diminished, augmented); the inversion of intervals.
Scales and keys. All major and minor (harmonic and melodic) scales; the names of scale degrees (tonic, supertonic, etc.); all major and minor key signatures.
Chords. The structure of triads and seventh chords; triad qualities (major, minor, diminished, augmented); roots; inversions of triads and seventh chords and their figured-bass symbols.
Harmony. The functions of diatonic chords and their roman-numeral symbols (I, II, III, etc.); types of cadences.

Here are some useful preparatory texts for music theory:

Clough, John, et al.Scales, Intervals, Keys, Triads, Rhythm, and Meter: A Programmed Course in Elementary Music Theory, with an Introduction to Partwriting. New York: Norton, 1999.
[An excellent self-instruction "programmed text," this book may be purchased through amazon.ca here.
Wharram, Barbara. Elementary Rudiments of Music. 1969 (Available from Harris)
Younger, John B. Elementary Rudiments Answer Book [accompanies Wharram's book]. 1985 (Available from Harris)

Aural musicianship skills

Music is sound, of course, and musicians are expected to have discerning ears for musical sound. We consider the following abilities important in students beginning their university study in music.

Intervals. The ability to recognize all diatonic intervals, from the unison to the octave, in both melodic (ascending and descending) and harmonic form.
Rhythm. The ability to recognize rhythmic patterns of up to two measures in length, in 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, and 6/8 metres, containing regular division and subdivision of the beat as well as duplets and triplets.
Melodic patterns. The ability to recognize a diatonic melody of up to two measures in length involving steps and leaps of no more than an octave.
Chords. The ability to recognize the quality (major, minor, and diminished) of triads played in four parts, close or open position.
Keyboard skills. Even if you are not a pianist or organist, your study of music will benefit a great deal from having some ability at the keyboard. If you do not yet play keyboard at all, you should consider taking some beginning lessons.

Here are some useful preparatory materials for aural skills:

Comprehensive Ear Training. 2000. (Available from Harris)
A series of graded printed materials available with CDs, based on the Royal Conservatory curriculum.
Lindsay, Mary. Ear Training & Rhythm Development. 1995. Ellis,Ivison & Lindsay.
Berlin, B. and Markow, A. Ear training for practical examinations. Melody playback/singback, vol. 1; Rhythm clapback/singback, vols.1 and 2. 1986-91. Harris.

Musical terminology

Music has its own body of fundamental concepts with which musicians should be acquainted. It also has a stock of common terms (most of them italian) that appear in written music. You should attempt to familiarize yourself with the following concepts and terms.

Musical concepts

melody, range, phrase, cadence, climax
rhythm, beat, accent, metre (duple, triple, quadruple, simple, compound), syncopation
pitch, interval, consonance, dissonance, octave, scale, diatonic, chromatic
harmony, chord, triad,
tonality, tonic, major mode, minor mode, key
texture, monophonic, homophonic, polyphonic, imitation, timbre
form, variation, binary, ternary, theme, sequence, motive

Italian terms

tempo, grave, largo, adagio, andante, moderato, allegro, vivace, presto, prestissimo, accelerando, rallentando, ritardando, a tempo, tempo rubato, tempo primo, meno mosso, più mosso
pianissimo, piano, mezzo piano, mezzo forte, forte, fortissimo, crescendo, decrescendo, diminuendo
legato, staccato, tenuto, sforzando, fermata, arco, pizzicato, con sordino
agitato, animato, cantabile, con brio, con espressione, dolce, espressivo, giocoso, grazioso, leggiero, maestoso, marcato, pesante, scherzando, tranquillo,
da capo, dal segno, fine, attacca
alla, assai, ben, col/colla/con, e/ed, ma, meno, molto, non, più, poco, poco a poco, primo, quasi, secondo, sempre, senza, subito, troppo

The history of western art ("classical") music

Music also has a rich stylistic history, and the study of music's evolution will be a core part of your university training. Some high-school music programmes include an introduction to notable composers and important music genres; many others do not. Certainly a basic acquaintance with the subject is a very valuable preparation for your university study.

A listener's knowledge of art music

This may be the most important point of all. For a musician, there is simply no substitute for having some music "in the ears." The more music you are familiar with, the more meaning musical concepts will take on--and the better you will be able to play, listen to, and enjoy other music.

An excellent way to address points 3, 4, and 5 is to study a music appreciation text. One book we recommend is The Enjoyment of Music by Joseph Machlis. This colourful and well written book is widely used in school and university music appreciation courses (including our own). If you decide to purchase this book, you should obtain the CD's that go with it; these contain recordings of the pieces of music that Machlis discusses. The Enjoyment of Music is available online and can also be ordered from many music stores.

The Entrance Assessment

All students seeking admission to our programmes must complete our Entrance Assessment, which is usually taken when you visit Mount Allison for your audition and/or interview.

The Assessment is not a pass-or-fail examination. Rather, we want to appraise your knowledge and skills in the areas detailed above. You should keep in mind, of course, that competition for entrance to our programmes is keen. You should try to make a strong showing on the Assessment to support your application. You should also be aware that if the Assessment reveals your knowledge and skills to be weak, we may require you to take our preparatory Fundamentals of Music course before proceeding to our regular Materials of Music courses.

Publishers and music stores

Here are the addresses and telephone numbers of the music stores mentioned above.

The Frederick Harris Music Co. Ltd.
273 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON M5S 1W2
1-800-387-4013 / (416) 673-1426 / fax: (416) 408-1542

The Royal Conservatory of Music,
273 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON. M5S 1W2
(416) 408-2824

Some online resources

Here are some music instruction sites on the internet that you might find useful. (These sites will open in a new window; close that window to return to the present page.)

Ricci Adams' musictheory.net: musictheory.net is a free online resource for learning the rudiments of music theory. It features lessons with clear explanations of pitch and rhythm notation, keys and scales, intervals, chord structure and function, and basic harmonic analysis. It also has interactive exercises and tools.
Teoría: Practical Music Theory: Teoría is an instructional site in music rudiments, basic harmony, ear training and form. It includes interactive exercises, online instruction, analyses, a glossary, and other articles.
ETheory: A comprehensive online in music theory rudiments by Dr. Steven Laitz from the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester. Registration (currently $87) is required.
Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Glossary: A cross-referenced glossary of hundreds of musical terms. A pronunciation guide for all terms uses online sound files. Musical examples, however, require an additional set of CDs and installed software.
MiBAC Music Theory Reference: A support site for MIBAC Music Lessons software (Macintosh and Windows). Includes online tutorials in note reading, scales, intervals, and key signatures.
Big Ears Online Ear Trainer: A Java-based site for interval recognition training.
Aural Comprehension Guide (David Loberg Code): A guide to goals and practice techniques of university-level ear training.