The Music Theory and Aural Skills Curriculum at the Moores School of Music

Our lower-division theory courses balance traditional part-writing skills and analytical skills. We use a graded anthology of musical examples from the very beginning, and we spend a great deal of class time studying and talking about the music. Exams typically contain both part writing and music analysis. Upper-division courses begin to concentrate more closely on analysis, and there is a strong composition component to our twentieth-century techniques course.

All incoming students are given a diagnostic exam to help determine in which course to enroll. Entering freshmen without the required background to enter Theory I are advised to take MUSI 1300 (Fundamentals of Music) before entering the core theory sequence. Click here for additional information on placement into the undergraduate music theory curriculum (including a sample placement exam).

Students should also be advised that it is the policy of the Moores School of Music that a grade of no less than C- is required to continue in the theory and aural-skills sequence. Students receiving a D or F in any course are required to repeat that course. The grade for each attempt appears on the student's transcript and is computed in the student's grade point average.

Proficiency exams

Transfer students, as well as our native students, must pass the theory and aural skills proficiency exams prerequisite to Theory III (if transferring after two semesters of theory), to Techniques in Music since 1900 (if transferring after three semesters of theory) and to Introduction to Large Forms (after four semesters of theory). Note that the proficiency exam results are valid through the next offering of the course for which they are prerequisite. If a student fails to enroll in that course the next time it is offered, the student must re-take the proficiency exam to qualify for enrollment.

Students, transfer or native, who fail to achieve a score of 70 on any proficiency exam are not required to repeat theory courses in which they received grade of C- or better but must, however, correct their deficiencies. This could happen any number of ways, i.e. studying the textbook and working alone, hiring a tutor or auditing courses as refreshers. The only requirement is that the proficiency exam be passed before enrolling in the next sequential course. (The aural skills sequence also includes several proficiency exams.)

Students transferring four semesters of theory need only pass Theory Proficiency Exam IV and Aural Skills Proficiency Exam IV before registering in MUSI3215, Introduction to Large Forms, a new course required in all BM degree plans.

All theory and aural skills proficiency exams will be offered on audition days, during the week of final exams and again the week before classes begin in August and January. Students will be given the specific testing time in August at the required orientation for transfer students and should contact the undergraduate advisor (713.743.3172) for testing dates. [Sample proficiency exams will soon be available on the web page for the theory and composition department ( http://www.music.uh.edu/comp-theory ).]

Theory courses

MUSI 1310: Theory I. 3 cr. Prerequisite: passing grade on Theory Entrance Exam. Review of musical rudiments; harmony and voice leading (in standard SATB format) through submediant and mediant chords; proficiency reading and realizing figured bass; analysis/identification of cadences and basic phrase structures; basic harmonic analysis; elementary composition.

MUSI 1311: Theory II. 3 cr. Prerequisite: MUSI 1310. Harmony and voice leading through modal mixture, secondary dominants, and modulations; analysis of periodic phrase structures; further harmonic analysis and basic composition.

MUSI 2210: Theory III. 2 cr. Prerequisite: MATH 1310; MUSI 1311 and passing grade on Theory Proficiency Exam II. Harmony and voice-leading through linear chords, the Neapolitan and augmented sixths, advanced modulation, ninth chords; binary form; more advanced modulation and composition.

MUSI 2214: Techniques of Music since 1900. 2 cr. Prerequisite: MATH 1310; MUSI 2210 and passing grade on Theory Proficiency Exam III. Study of compositional practices of the twentieth century and later, through analysis and composition exercises.

MUSI 3215: Introduction to Large Forms. 2 cr. Prerequisite: MUSI 2214 and passing grade on Theory Proficiency Exam IV and Aural Skills Proficiency Exam IV. Introduction to the study of larger musical forms of the eighteenth through twentieth centuries; introduction to the analysis of contrapuntal textures.

MUSI 3216: Analysis. 2 cr. Prerequisite: MUSI 2214. Analysis of selected musical literature.

Aural-Skills courses

MUSI 1170: Aural Skills I. 1 cr. Prerequisite: credit for or concurrent enrollment in MUSI 1310. introduction to solfege, melodic and harmonic dictation. Aural skills exercises in diatonic materials, simple meters.

MUSI 1171: Aural Skills II. 1 cr. Prerequisite: MUSI1170 and credit for or concurrent enrollment in MUSI 1311. Continuation of MUSI 1170, through modal mixture and diatonic sevenths; compound meters; decorative chromaticism; alto clef.

MUSI 2170: Aural Skills III. 1 cr. Prerequisite: MUSI 1171 and passing grade on Aural Skills Proficiency Exam II: credit for or concurrent enrollment in MUSI 2210. Tenor clef; secondary dominants; elementary modulation; more advanced rhythmic problems, including borrowed divisions.

MUSI 2171: Aural Skills IV. 1 cr. Prerequisite: MUSI 2170; credit for or concurrent enrollment in MUSI 2211. Advanced chromaticism; remote modulation; quintuple meters; introduction to twentieth-century materials, including modes and multimeter.

Visit the Composition and Music Theory studies home page