Appendix B – General Keyboard Requirements

(Revised 2004)

All music majors must meet specific keyboard musicianship requirements. These requirements vary according to curriculum and require each student to do two things: (1) study piano for a designated number of quarters; and, (2) pass specific Keyboard Musicianship courses and/or Keyboard Proficiency examinations. Students with Advanced skills may take an examination to be placed in higher level keyboard classes or to satisfy all requirements. Information on keyboard proficiency examinations is available in Keyboard Musicianship courses or from Dr. Jackson Leung.

PIANO AS A SECONDARY INSTRUMENT

All secondary piano students enroll in Keyboard Musicianship classes during their freshman year or freshman and sophomore year, depending on the degree requirements. (Note: B.A. students take only one year of secondary piano.)

All secondary piano students who are required to study piano two years must pass MUS 257 and its accompanying proficiency exam as a prerequisite for continuing piano study.

FUNCTIONAL KEYBOARD REQUIREMENTS FOR KEYBOARD
MAJORS AND CONCENTRATIONS

Music Education Majors with Piano or Organ concentration and Voice Secondary will take MUS 357 or the equivalent proficiency exam.

Music Education Majors with Piano or Organ concentration and Instrumental Secondary, as well as B.A. students with Keyboard Concentration have no functional keyboard requirements.

Piano Classes and Piano Proficiency Requirements

Acquiring practical piano skills is a vital part of music education at Wright State University. These skills are attained through a sequence of classes in keyboard musicianship.

The Wright State University Department of Music requires that all students successfully complete or test out of the following keyboard musicianship courses, depending on their course of study:

Instrumental Music Education majors / Bachelor of Arts in Music majors, vocal track/music minors:

Piano proficiency tests

In addition to satisfying all course requirements, students must pass with a C or higher all sections of the final course exam (proficiency test) given at the end of each year (157-standard section A, 257, or 357) in order to satisfy their proficiency requirements and, if required by their major, enroll in the next year of keyboard musicianship.

Proficiency tests for students who do not satisfy requirements during the regular final examination time (Spring quarter, final exam week) will be offered at the beginning of each fall quarter during the placement testing period (the first week of classes). Students are responsible to contact the instructor and sign up to retake the portion of the exam they have not yet completed successfully.

Preparatory Section of 155-57

Beginning in the fall of 2004, one section of keyboard musicianship each quarter (MUS 155, 156, 157) will be devoted to students with no piano background, or others who would benefit from a remedial-level course. The preparatory (B) section will move at a slower pace than the standard (A) sections of 155-57. The final exam for the B section of MUS 157 is not the keyboard proficiency exam required for graduation (above). Students enrolled in this section of keyboard musicianship will still be required to pass all sections of the proficiency exam given in the standard section (A) of MUS 157 in order to successfully complete their first-year requirements and/or enroll in the second year of classes.

Students who are required to enroll in section B of 155-57 have the following options in order to learn the additional materials required to pass the 1st year proficiency test (the final exam of section A):

  1. By virtue of exemplary work in section B of 155 or 156, test into one of the standard sections of MUS 156 or 157 and thus be on track to take the proficiency test at the end of the first year of study.
  2. Learn additional material on their own throughout the year and take the proficiency exam (the final for section A of MUS 157) instead of the final for section B.
  3. Following the successful completion of MUS 157-B, take private piano lessons on their own and take the proficiency test the following fall (or spring).
  4. Following the successful completion of MUS 157-B, take private piano lessons through WSU (students must pay an extra applied fee to study privately through WSU) and take the proficiency test the following fall (or spring).
  5. Following the successful completion of MUS 157-B, audit one or more sections of the standard course the following year in order to prepare for the proficiency test.
  6. Following the successful completion of MUS 157-B, take one or more sections of the standard course for credit (grades would replace grades earned in the preparatory section) to prepare for the proficiency test.

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