Musical Arts D.M.A.

Admission Requirements

Students applying for admission to the Doctor of Musical Arts degree program must make application through the Graduate College. There are different deadlines for international students, and for students who wish to apply for assistantships, which are also found on the Graduate College website. In addition to submitting an application and transcripts of all college-level work to the Graduate College, prospective students must have a Master’s degree in music from a NASM accredited institution.

 Placement Exams

Prior to registration, all Department of Music graduate students must take placement examinations in music history, theory, and aural skills/sight- singing, regardless of their area of concentration. Passing scores on these exams, or passing grades in the appropriate history or theory review courses (B or above) are required before students may enroll in graduate level history and theory courses.  Credit for review courses will not be applied towards the degree.

Successful completion of MUS 690 - Bibliography  , with a minimum grade of B, is a pre-requisite for all graduate-level music history classes.

Music History Placement Examination

The examination is an assessment of accumulated knowledge.  Students may wish to prepare, however, by reviewing the facts and concepts in J. Peter Burkholder, Donald J. Grout, and Claude V. Palisca, A History of Western Music, 7th edition (New York: W.W. Norton, 2006), the volumes of the Prentice Hall History of Music series, or similar texts.  Students who show deficiencies in music history will be required to register for MUS 603 - Graduate Music History Review . The examination is given prior to the first day of instruction for the Fall semester.  The exact date, time, and location may be found on the Department of Music  website: http://music.unlv.edu/home.shtml

Students must take the exam at the designated time; no make-up examinations will be given.  Students who fail to take the exam at the scheduled time must complete MUS 603  before enrolling in any other music history course.  This course is offered in the Fall semesters only.

For more specific details concerning the placement exam, please consult the Music History Handbook, available on the Music Department website: http://music.unlv.edu/home.shtml or contact Dr. Anthony Barone (702) 895-5953, (anthony.barone@unlv.edu).

Graduate Music Theory and Aural Skills/Sight-singing Placement Examination
A sample graduate theory placement exam may be found on the Department of Music’s website: http://music.unlv.edu/home.shtml

The Graduate Aural Skills/Sight-singing Placement Examination consists of:

1. Two-voice dictation
2. Three-voice dictation
3. Harmonic dictation
4. Two-part rhythmic dictation
5. Sight-singing of a melody in any of the modern clefs (treble, alto, tenor, bass).  A single melody may contain clef changes.

Students who show deficiencies in music theory and/or aural skills/sight-singing will be required to register for MUS 604 - Graduate Theory Review and/or MUS 602 - Graduate Ear Training Review.

The Graduate Music Theory and Aural Skills/Sight-singing Placement Examination is given prior to the first day of instruction for the Fall semester and the Spring semester.  The exact date, time, and location may be found on the Department of Music’s website: http://music.unlv.edu/home.shtml

Students must take the exam at the designated time; no make-up examinations will be given.  Students who fail to take the exams at the scheduled time must complete MUS 604 and MUS 602  before enrolling in any other music theory course.

For more specific details concerning the placement exam, please contact the Department of Music Office or the Graduate Coordinator (702) 895-3332.