Klarinet Archive - Posting 000332.txt from 2003/03

From: "Lacy, Edwin" <el2@-----.edu>
Subj: [kl] RE: AP Music Theory
Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2003 14:56:16 -0500

Angelina Lopez-Frank wrote:

<<<I took the AP Music Theory exam last spring and received a 5 grade
and am now considering taking advanced music theory at our local
university next year while finishing my senior year in high school. I
have been looking into several universities to see if this would apply
as credit upon entering, and have received several vague responses.
I've heard that some schools only grant credit if the course is taken at
their university. Does anyone have experience with AP exams and college
course credits when applying for school?>>>

I have been teaching at the University of Evansville for 36 years, and
in that entire time, only one student has ever submitted Advanced
Placement Theory scores to us. If such a student submits a grade of 4
or 5 on that test, we will grant the credit for one or two semesters.
However, there are a number of problems in doing so. First, we still
require that the student take our music theory placement exam. The
reason for this is that students in this situation face a fundamental
difficulty in that even though they may score well enough on our
placement exam as a result of their AP Theory study to enter the second
year theory sequence, they may find that they have the basic theoretical
knowledge to succeed in it, but they may have been using entirely
different terminology.

Also, it is not true that "theory is theory is theory." Some theory
programs concentrate on harmonization and part writing, others on
analysis, others on aural skills, dictation and sight-singing. Further,
the emphasis in the theory sequence shifts from semester to semester,
and it doesn't do so in identical ways at every school. We have two
semesters of basic harmonization and analysis with a strong aural skills
component, and then one semester of twentieth-century techniques and one
of form and styles analysis. Incidentally, the area where people with
significant background in high school theory or AP theory study often
come up short is in aural skills.

There are so many factors that might influence answers to your question.
For example, what degree will you pursue, and what is the theory
component of that degree curriculum? Some programs require only two
years of theory. If you get one year credit through the Advanced
Placement Test, and then take the second year of theory while you are
still in high school, what do you propose to do in college? If you are
expecting to take no theory in your first two years, and then go into
third-year courses in such areas as orchestration, counterpoint, styles
analysis, etc., that would seem to be an unnecessarily difficult route
to follow. I can't see much advantage to that.

Then, Christy Erickson wrote:

<<<I tend to think it's simply the fact that they give up some tuition
money whenever they allow students to transfer credits from another
school.>>>

This assertion is so error-laden that it is difficult to decide where to
begin. First, the discussion was not about transfer of credits from
another school, but rather about the awarding of credit based on
Advanced Placement testing. Second, when a student transfers into
another university, whatever tuition money they pay to the second school
is money that they otherwise would not have received, so it is only to
their advantage.

Third, students typically pay a flat rate tuition charge, which covers a
certain number of hours. For example, at the University of Evansville,
a student pays a certain amount, which covers loads of 12 to 16 hours
(18 hours for music majors). It takes a certain number of hours to
complete a degree, and a certain number of semesters in order to
accomplish that. If a student receives credit for certain courses
through advanced placement or other programs, they still have to
complete the prescribed number of hours to graduate. This varies so
widely from school to school that it is very difficult and complicated
to characterize it. For students who transfer later in their program, a
certain number of hours still have to be completed at the second
institution in order to receive a degree. (At the University of
Evansville, no more than 60 hours can be transferred.) Also, credits
can be transferred, but grades cannot. All this is designed to make it
possible for us to certify that people who receive degrees from us are
academically qualified to do so.

Ed Lacy
University of Evansville

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