COMPOSITION ASSESSMENT EXAMINATION
Admission to graduate programs in composition is highly competitive and limited to approximately eight new students per year. Those applicants who advance beyond the prescreening round will be invited to UCLA for a 30-minute interview with the composition faculty. All applicants will be notified whether or not they have been invited to interview by January 26, 2009. These interviews would be held in February or early March, 2009. In addition to an interview, finalists (only) will be asked to take the composition assessment exam as detailed below. Finalists unable to visit campus can request a telephone interview and arrange to take the assessment exam in absentia.
The exam consists of:
- Harmony (1 hour): writing standard 4-part harmony from a given figured bass;
- Counterpoint (1 hour): writing counterpoint in your choice of 16 th C. specie, 16 th C. imitative or 18 th C. styles;
- Dictation: taking 2-part melodic dictation and taking harmonic dictation by writing chord symbols of a given progression;
- Analytical Essay (2 hours): writing an essay on an analytical/stylistic topic and
- Diagnostic tests in Sight Singing and Keyboard Sight Reading. (Applicants who take the exam in absentia will have the diagnostic tests as a deficiency upon admission.)
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