School of Music Graduate Admissions

Apply to the University of Kentucky Graduate School. You must apply to the UK Graduate School before proceeding with your School of Music application. Visit the UK Graduate School website for details and deadlines.

To find your chosen program on the UK Graduate School Application Process:

1. Online or On Campus: Choose On Campus
2. Applicant Category: Choose either Doctoral or Masters depending on your desired degree
3. Program: Music
4. Option: Choose your desired degree such as Music Education, Musicology, Music Theory, etc.

Please note that the School of Music deadlines are earlier than Graduate School deadlines, and Fellowship deadlines are as early as December or January for Fall admission.

Depending on your chosen program, schedule a School of Music Entrance Exam in music theory (aural and written) and music history. If you are seeking a performance degree, you must also schedule an Audition. Auditions and Entrance Exams are offered on the same dates. If applying for the Fall semester, you should take the exams early and complete your application by March 15. Please note specific exam requirements for academic programs found in the Area Examinations accordion below. Proceed to the Audition/Exam Request form to apply.

Attend your School of Music Entrance Exam and (if applicable) Audition.

Note: a pre-audition screening is required for the following programs. See your relevant area for details:

• Graduate Voice Screening (Deadline: December 1) - Send to: Cynthia Lawrence
• Graduate Percussion Screening (Deadline: December 1) - Send to: Matthew Geiger
• Graduate Choral Conducting Screening (Deadline: December 1) - Send to: Jefferson Johnson
• Graduate Guitar Screening (Deadline: March 1) - Send to: Dieter Hennings

Graduate students require applications to the UK Graduate School, the School of Music Audition/Exam Request, as well as the submission of other materials depending upon the chosen Area of Study.

You will receive an email a week or two before your chosen date if you register early, or soon after you fill out the Audition Request Form if you register late.

As your scheduled audition date approaches you will receive an email with details. If you are auditioning at a time other than on one of our listed audition days, please consult with the faculty member who has scheduled your audition.

Most “E” lots are unregulated on Saturdays, but you should read the restrictions posted at the entrance to any parking lot. Be prepared to park a block or more from your audition venue. The Singletary Center has a drop-off entrance on Rose Street. For the Fine Arts building, use the lower level entrance on Patterson Drive. Parking structure #5 is close to our facilities. Although you will have to pay to park here it may be easier than trying to find an available spot. Allow plenty of time to find parking. Visitor parking information and maps are available from UK Transportation Services.

Please see the UK Visitors Center for information.

A professional accompanist is provided for voice auditions only. Other auditions are performed without accompaniment. You may bring your own accompanist, but it is not required.

Please do not bring extra copies of your music; only a prepared binder for the pianist is necessary. Please ensure that all your music is correctly labeled and in its designated place.

Practice rooms are available in the Fine Arts Building. UK School of Music student guides will be provided to you during the Audition Orientation to take you to these rooms and to your audition location.

Auditions may be heard by a single instrumental faculty member, or by several faculty in a division. Graduate auditions usually have at least three faculty.

Please check the page for your desired Area of Study for more information.

Information sessions and campus tours should be arranged through the UK Visitors Center, and College of Fine Arts tours can be arranged through our Visit Us form.

You will receive notification by mail from the School of Music after all prospective students in your area of specialty have been heard. Auditions are completed in early March, with notices being sent a few weeks after.

You will hear from us about your acceptance into the School of Music before you hear about scholarships. Scholarships are competitive, so we need to have heard all prospective students before making final decisions. For new students, scholarship decisions will be made by no later than April 15.

• For information about specific music programs at UK: Contact the faculty in charge of your area of interest
• For information about audition repertoire, see the specific program page for your area of interest, or contact the faculty in charge of your area of interest.
• To confirm or change an audition time or date: Contact the person who sent your assignment. Do NOT submit a second audition request through our form.

Most ensembles are open to all UK students regardless of Major or Minor, and we encourage you to join! Ensemble audition signup sheets are posted beginning the week before classes each semester in the Fine Arts Building. Please check the bulletin boards or contact the faculty in charge of each ensemble for more details.

• Choral
• Contemporary
• Jazz
• Opera Theatre
• Strings and Orchestra
• UK Bands
• Winds, Brass, and Percussion
• World Music
• Faculty Chamber

Music Education does not require an exam, but does conduct interviews with applicants as part of the admissions selection process. Please contact the Music Education coordinator for more information.

In this exam, students are given a musical element and/or genre and asked to trace it through several epochs of the history of music. Students will also be asked to discuss one or more specialized topics in areas including music research and bibliography, music in vernacular and cultivated traditions, music and culture, and Western idioms and styles.

The music theory entrance exam, essay entrance exam, audition, and personal interview are specific to the music therapy program and are required for all applicants. In other words, these exams replace the requirements listed above. Applicants to the music therapy program should complete an audition request form to schedule an examination date. Visit the Music Therapy program page to learn more. Contact Dr. Alaine Reschke-Hernandez (Alaine.ReschkeHernandez@uky.edu) and/or Dr. Olivia (Liv) Yinger (Olivia.Yinger@uky.edu) with questions. Please discuss any accommodations for the exam with music therapy faculty at least two weeks prior to your exam date.

Music Theory and Aural Skills Exam

This exam consists of both aural and written theory elements and is specific to applicants for the graduate music therapy program. Questions include listening, multiple choice, short answer, and score analysis. These websites are useful study guides for the music theory entrance exam: MusicTheory.net (Ear Training section) and Teoria.com tutorials.

Concepts on the Music Theory and Aural Skills exam for music therapy applicants include:

• Aural recognition of intervals, chords and scale patterns.
• Aural recognition of various musical elements like meter, tonality, etc.
• Written fundamentals like part writing, modulation, modes, meter, cadences, common scales/chord progressions will be included.
• Basic knowledge of popular music form and structure.
• Analysis skills including score analysis, transposition, key recognition, etc. will be included.

Music Therapy Essay Exam

Applicants should bring a writing utensil and 6-8 sheets of lined notebook paper for the music therapy essay exam. This exam consists of 7 open-ended questions about music therapy practice. Applicants write an essay response 4 of the 7 questions of the applicant’s choice. To prepare for this exam, please study the American Music Therapy Association’s “About Music Therapy” webpage and Fact Sheets.

Music Therapy Audition

All applicants must complete a music therapy-specific audition with the music therapy faculty. Prepare to sing 2 songs: 1) sing while accompanying yourself on guitar; and 2) sing while accompanying yourself on keyboard. The songs you select may be from any musical genre (e.g., pop, country, rock, R&B, original, gospel, etc.). These songs should: a) be selections that you might use in a music therapy session (consider age, population, setting); b) enable us to engage with you and sing along if we want to (i.e., not a performance); and c) showcase your strongest musicianship with your voice and on these instruments. Applicants to the equivalency program who have not yet learned to play guitar must only prepare one selection with piano accompaniment. In addition, all applicants should be prepared to sing a simple song a cappella (e.g., Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star).

Music Therapy Interview

All applicants must complete a music therapy-specific interview with the music therapy faculty, which is completed during the audition. The personal statement, which is part of the application submitted to UK’s Graduate School, is helpful preparation for this interview. All applicants should read the American Music Therapy Association’s Code of Ethics in preparation for the interview, with particular attention to the Preamble and Principle 1. Applicants are also encouraged to ask music therapy faculty during the interview.

This is a one-hour exam covering composers and works in the history of art song, pedagogy, diction, performers, and poets.

This exam covers composers, literary figures, and performers in the history of opera and art song. Students will be asked to discuss aspects of vocal pedagogy, and to transcribe texts into the International Phonetic Alphabet.

This exam consists of approximately 25-30 questions presented in fill-in-the-blank and multiple-choice format, and contains listening examples on the following:

• interval identification
• scale identification
• sonority identification
• melodic identification
• harmonic identification
• contextual listening

This exam consists of two parts:

• Theory and Fundamentals of Harmony (25-30 question)
  • voice-leading
  • intervals and chords
  • scales and collections
  • rhythm and meter
  • non-harmonic tones
• Form and Analysis (15-20 questions)
  • key areas
  • cadences
  • harmonic analysis
  • atonal analysis / set theory
  • form and score analysis

Music History Common Exam
Offered in person in the Johnson Classroom of the Little Fine Arts Library
Thursday, September 18, DMA 9am- 12pm;  PhD 9am - 1pm

Students may optionally take exams on a laptop computer with the following conditions: 

1. The use of the Internet is forbidden, and
2. the hard drive shall contain NO material related to the examination.The exams will be written and copied onto a “clean” external jump drive, which each student will provide. The exam may not be copied to or remain on the computer after the exam. The completed exams will be printed from the jump drive by the DGS and photocopies of the exam will be supplied to the two DMA Qualifying Examination committee members for grading.
3. A description of the DMA and PhD exams, as well as the specific topics to study, can be found at the following links:
   1. DMA Music History Exam Topics
   2. PhD Music History Exam Topics

Suggested sources for review:

• Grout and Palisca; A History of Western Music (W.W. Norton)
• Stolba; The Development of Western Music: A History (W.C. Brown)
• Pen; Introduction to Music (McGraw-Hill)

Music Theory Common Exam
Offered in person in the Johnson Classroom of the Little Fine Arts Library
Friday, September 19, DMA 9am- 12pm;  PhD 9am - 1pm

No computers are allowed for the theory portion of the common exam. A score packet and student answer packet, which provides pages for all needed responses, will be provided. All that is needed for the theory exam are pencils. Please note that phones are not allowed in the examination room.

Doctoral Theory Common Exam Preparedness

• Content and Tips
• Terms to Know
• Score Analysis Packet
• Practice Answer Packet