[Dixielandjazz] The Ultimate Doctoral Music Exam

[Dan Augustine]

>Subject: The Ultimate Doctoral Music Exam
>
>Doctoral Music Exam Select any 25 of the following 30 questions. You have
>three hours from now!
>
>1. Explain the difference between sforza, sforzando, sforzata, and La Forza
>Del Destino. Be specific.
>
>2. Redesign the traditional cup mouthpiece to permit greater endurance, a
>larger sound and effortless altissimo register. Explain why your design is
>better than contemporary models.
>
>3. List Johann Sebastian Bach's male and female children. Include their
>dates of birth and death (if deceased), middle names (if any), last known
>address and Social Security numbers.
>
>4. Name all of the composers who wrote a First Symphony and notate the
>opening theme of each of those symphonies.
>
>5. What is the relationship and musical significance of the 10th and 11th
>bars of the aria "Soldaten, Soldaten" to the aria's final bars (1048-1063)
>in the Alban Berg opera "Wozzeck"?
>
>6. Who conducted "Tannhauser" at the 1847 Bayreuth Festival? Was he right or
>left-handed?
>
>7. How many members of that orchestra were Jewish? Name them. (A Trick
>Question).
>
>8. Trace the development of the "Family Unity" theme in Richard Strauss's
>"Sinfonia Domestica". In which key(s) is it presented?
>
>9. Describe in detail the formula for the varnish on violins made by
>Stradivari during the first third of his career. Explain how this varnish
>differs from the varnish used on his violas. What modern substances could be
>effectively substituted in duplicating this formula today?
>
>10. What is the optimum acidity/alkalinity (expressed in pH) for soil in
>which cane for bassoon reeds may be grown? For bass clarinet reeds? For Alto
>clarinets? For Artie Shaw?
>
>11. Name and describe the bones and muscles involved in forming a brass
>player's embouchure.
>
>12. What are the advantages of using xylophone mallet heads made of:
>a. Ebony? b. Teak? c. Philippine Mahogany? d. Stale marshmallows?
>
>13. Argue both sides of the following statement: "The most important element
>in music is rhythm." Critique both arguments and decide which is correct, or
>more nearly correct. Compose a three-movement symphonic metamorphosis (not
>to exceed 1 hour in length) on a theme by Ned Rorem to support your
>decision.
>
>14. Defend Mozart's use of the glass harmonica and explain why this
>instrument has lapsed into disfavor, especially among Latin bands and Punk
>Rock groups.
>
>15. Give the "Slap-Back" time in seconds (to three decimal places) of each
>hall used by all major American and European orchestras. Defend your
>selection of each orchestra as a "major" orchestra and name each orchestra's
>past and present conductors.
>
>16. In which of his symphonies did Franz Joseph Haydn use:
>a. Clarinets b. Horns c. Bassoon d. Slide Whistle e. Theremin
>
>17. Write out the first 25 bars of Stravinsky's "Circus Polka". Watch those
>key changes!
>
>18. What is the Kochel number of Mozart's 4th Horn Concerto? Why didn't he
>write a fifth?
>
>19. Develop a simple set of general rules that explain the harmonic and
>melodic progressions, voice leadings and rhythmic notation of the music of
>Bartok and The Macarena.
>
>20. Give the ratio between the bore and overall length of a Couesnon
>Contra-Bass trombone, Model G-571a, when the slide is in flat 4th position.
>If the position is used in conjunction with both thumb valves (F and D) to
>play the 7th note of the overtone series, what note will be sounded? Will it
>be sharp, flat, or in tune? If sharp or flat, by how many hundredths of a
>semitone?
>
>21. Who invented the Ocarina? In what year? Why?
>
>22. Explain the musical inconsistencies as to key, notation, accidentals,
>etc, found in the original score of Robert Schumann's Symphony #3.
>
>23. Write a seven-voice motet in the style of Orlando di Lassus in
>invertible counterpoint. Ten Extra credits if the motet can also be
>performed backwards. Twenty Extra Credits if it sounds better that way.
>
>24. Using materials commonly found in the kitchen, construct a 15 rank,
>3-manual positiv organ (with pedals) and use it to perform two pieces by
>Oliver Messiaen.
>
>25. Reconstruct the missing movements of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony.
>
>26. Give the Russian, German, and Serbo-Croatian equivalents of the
>following Italian terms: Tuffato, Con Amore, Cadenza, Fugato, Garbonza,
>Mafioso, and Fuggedabowdit.
>
>27. Explain why the jazz-influenced pieces written by Ravel, Stravinsky,
>Poulenc and Berstein didn't swing.
>
>28. Now that Preservation Hall is under 8' of water, will real jazz continue
>to exist?
>
>29. Because of the lack of electricity to power Rock Bands in the Coastal
>Regions of the Southern United States, will the local populations be the
>first in America to regain their hearing? Defend your position.
>
>30. Rank the following items in order of importance as far as the long-term
>effects of their invention concerned the destruction of melodic music and
>explain why:
>
>1. Bagpipes 2. Country/Western bands 3. the Amplified Guitar
>4. Stephen Sondheim  5. Mantovani 6. Kenny G
>7. Florence Foster Jenkins 8. Arnold Schoenberg 10. Darlene Edwards
>11. Jack Benny 12. The Monkees 13. Nancy Sinatra 14. William Shatner

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** Dan Augustine  --  Austin, Texas  --  ds.augustine at mail.utexas.edu
**     "God tells me how the music should sound, but you stand in the way."
**                -- Arturo Toscanini to a trumpet player
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