Admission Requirements for the
Master of Music

Music Performance

1. Each applicant must complete and submit:

  • Graduate Studies in Music application form
  • a resume
  • a two-page essay explaining the rationale concerning his/her desire to become a graduate student
    in the Lee University Master of Music - Music Performance program
  • three reference forms - two academic or professional and one personal, and
  • Lee University Health Clinic Certificate of Immunization

2. Submission of official transcript(s) verifying completion of an undergraduate degree in music from a regionally accredited institution.

3. A dossier of available programs, articles, and performance reviews.

4. Each applicant must complete all proficiency auditions, placement exams, and other auditions
required by the Graduate Music faculty. These include the music history exam, the theory placement exam, and the keyboard proficiency placement hearing.

5. Each applicant must have a minimum grade point average of 2.75 for admission to the Master of Music – Music Performance program. If the applicant has a grade point average less than 2.75, the student may petition for admission based on tenure as a music educator, private teacher, or professional performer for a cumulative period of not less than three years. Action on this petition will be determined by the Graduate Music Committee.

6. Each applicant is required to have an interview with the Dean of the School of Music and the Graduate Music Committee.

7. Each applicant must complete an audition in his/her       primary applied area.The Office of Graduate Studies in Music will accept   applications for a performance emphasis in voice, piano, woodwinds, percussion, strings, and brass. Applicants will perform selections from a list of requirements including the artistic periods, representative composers, significant schools of composition and/or performance and languages -- as considered appropriate. The list of requirements for each instrument or voice will be made available from the Office of Graduate Studies in Music.

Private lessons are available in the following areas for secondary study

voice

piano

composition

conducting

strings

brass

percussion

woodwinds

guitar


An Applied Jury Examination is required for all primary areas of applied study.
If the applicant holds an undergraduate degree in an area other than music, conditional acceptance may be granted after placement auditions and examinations have been completed and remedial courses have been assigned. Prerequisite to full acceptance is the successful completion of the required remediation. No more than 12 hours of graduate courses may be completed before all deficiencies are removed.

back to top 

PLACEMENT EXAMS

Following acceptance into the degree program, each applicant for the Master of Music – Performance degree will take Music Placement Examinations in music theory and music history.
Applicants will also complete an assessment of keyboard skills (non-pianists). Placement exams are administered through the Graduate Music Office and, in order to be advised, must be completed prior to initial enrollment. If any deficiencies are detected, specific remedial courses may be recommended or required. An examination packet is available upon request from the Graduate Studies in Music Office.

  1. The Music Theory Placement Examination will include such areas as:
    1. Melodic harmonization
    2. Figured-bass realization
    3. Formal and harmonic analysis
    4. Melodic and harmonic dictation
    5. Sight-reading

Based on the Music Theory Placement Examination, the student will be advised to: 1) enroll in MUST 522 – Concepts of Analysis or 2) enroll in MUST 500 – Music Theory Review and receive a passing grade. (remedial credit) 
 

2.  The Music History Placement Examination will include   recognition of works, composers, and performance practices from the Renaissance through contemporary periods. Based on the Music History Placement Examination, the student will be advised to: 1) enroll in the MUHL 512– Performance Practice in the History of Music or 2) enroll in the MUHL 500 Music History Review class (remedial credit).

AUDITION REQUIREMENTS

  1. Auditions in this degree program are held with the understanding that the prospective student has successfully performed an undergraduate recital. The program for this recital needs to be presented at the time of the graduate audition.
     
  2. The student will demonstrate the potential to perform a graduate recital upon completion of the
    course requirements.
     
  3. The student will provide a listing of all the literature studied at the undergraduate level, plus any other pertinent materials that may validate his/her performance skills.
     
  4. Voice
    The student will prepare a minimum of five (5) selections from which the committee will select the audition repertory. The five selections must include works from a minimum of three historical periods, and English, French, German, and Italian must all be represented.

The five works must include the following:
a. an aria in the original language and key from an opera
b. an aria in the original language and key from an oratorio
c. Three (3) art songs in the original language

With prior notification, an accompaniment is available upon request.

  1. Piano
    The audition repertory will be selected from a 60- minute program which must include the following:

a. a virtuoso etude by composers such as Chopin, Liszt, or Rachmaninoff
b. an entire classical sonata
c. a major romantic work, e.g. a Ballade by Chopin
d. a major composition written after 1915

  1. Non Keyboard Instrument
    The audition repertory will be selected from a program which represents at least two contrasting
    style periods and includes the following:
a. an advanced etude or a representative sampling, no fewer than three, of excerpts from the standard orchestral repertoire
b. an entire sonata or similar appropriate work from the repertory of the instrument
c. at least one movement of a major concerto from the repertory of the instrument
Specific details can be obtained from the Office of Graduate Studies in Music.
 
 

Upcoming Audition Dates

Sax Man

TBA

Contact Info

Building

School of Music
Lee University
1130 Parker St NE Cleveland, TN
37320-3450

Tel: 423-614-8245
Fax: 423-614-8066
gradmusic@
leeuniversity.edu
 

Spotlight On

Steven Lay
Dr. Steven Lay
Natural Sciences and Mathematics

Professor of Mathematics