Last Update: July 8, 2005

A Music Advisory to All Entering Freshman Music Majors

We want you to do well in your course work, in your private lessons, and in ensembles. In order to get a good start at MU, you need to begin preparing now. First, you need to practice several hours every day. (the actual amount of time will vary with your performance area) This will help you be better prepared to perform your best on the audition for music scholarship and admission. This first audition is held during your senior year. You will also have a second audition in August when you arrive to begin your studies.

• Because music faculty hear students audition for scholarships in December, February, and March, they may not remember exactly how you play or sing by the end of the summer. Furthermore, your musical skills have probably improved since your audition on campus. All applied music faculty, except for those in the Piano area, will hear freshmen and transfer students at the beginning of the Fall semester so that they will be able to judge your subsequent progress throughout the year.

• Ensemble directors will audition all students, including freshmen, for ensemble placement. For wind, percussion, and string students, the audition will also determine chair placement within the section.

Prepare for Success in Music Theory

Freshmen come to MU with differing levels of knowledge about music. Many know the major and minor scales, key signatures, clefs, intervals, and chord types (major, minor, augmented and diminished) which they have learned through private lessons or music theory study in high school. Many others, however, possess only a rudimentary understanding of the subject. This range in knowledge about music theory presents a difficult challenge to both students and their teacher. To help you to succeed in freshman music theory at MU, we are asking you to purchase the following publication as soon as possible and work your way through part of it before you come to campus in August:

Harmonic Practice in Tonal Music by Robert Gauldin, published by Norton Music Books

You are asked to complete the work in Chapters I, II, III and the first part of Chapter IV, through Triad Spelling and Notation.   If you complete the work in the assigned chapters, you will be much better prepared to do well in music theory.

When you arrive on campus in August to begin your musical studies, you will be asked to complete a diagnostic placement test in music theory. Your performance on that test will be considered by your advisor in placing you in an appropriate music theory course. Those students with extremely limited knowledge of music theory may be advised to enroll in a basic music course that does not count toward a music degree in order to acquire the necessary foundation to enroll in the freshman music theory course required of all music majors.

Develop Your Keyboard Skills

If you have limited performance skills on the piano, then we strongly urge you to find a piano teacher and begin keyboard study immediately. Piano study will contribute to your general musical knowledge in many ways, especially your functional knowledge of scales, chords, and clefs. You will need functional keyboard skills to play simple accompaniments, harmonize melodies, and improvise music in different styles in your studies at MU. All students, unless they have studied piano privately for a number of years, are required to enroll in piano proficiency classes to develop their keyboard skills. Even after completing the keyboard requirements for a music degree, some students feel the need for more study in order to use the piano as a teaching tool or for real personal enjoyment, so get started now learning to play the piano and get a head start on success as a music student at MU.

Develop Your Singing Voice

The functional use of your singing voice is important to your success as a music student at MU, and later as a music teacher in private lessons, ensemble rehearsal, or the classroom. Although those students who anticipate being a voice major usually spend several years singing in a choir during their adolescent years, many instrumentalists, including pianists, fail to develop their vocal skills. During the freshman and sophomore years, all music majors must enroll in courses designed to develop the skills of aural perception and sight singing. Prior singing experience will help you succeed in those courses. If you have not recently had experience singing, then you are urged to find a place in a school or community choir or another musical venue where you can develop skill in singing with good pitch and rhythm and become comfortable in using your singing voice.