DMA applicants to Composition must take Thornton’s Graduate Academic Admission
Examination. The examination will be administered via an online platform on January 18,
2025 from 8:00 AM – 11:00 AM Paci c Standard Time. Applicants will receive materials to
be reviewed in preparation for the exam about two weeks prior to the exam
date. Additional details will be sent in mid-December to those applicants who are required
to take the exam.
This written examination re ects the types of critical inquiry with which graduate-level
courses at USC Thornton engage. The examination will be assessed by academic faculty
as a measure of an applicant’s readiness for the academic rigors and multi-disciplinary
structure of Thornton graduate programs. This assessment will be one of several
important components considered by the faculty in order to reach a nal admission
decision for each applicant.
The examination will be administered in two sequential sections:
1. Conceptual Essay: Applicants will be given an essay prompt about an issue or
issues in the music profession today. Applicants will be asked to write a short
essay exploring various aspects of the topic(s) introduced by the prompt,
responding to speci c questions and drawing on their own experience, knowledge,
and opinions as appropriate.
2. Analytical Essay: Applicants will be given a scholarly/literary text on a music-
related topic. Applicants will be asked to respond in essay form to a series of
analytical questions relating to the text provided. The analytical issues may
concern basic music theory (possibly with reference to a short example in musical
notation), music history, and/or aesthetics.
It is important to note that Thornton’s Graduate Academic Admission Examination is not an
examination for which students are generally able to study or prepare. It is not designed
to examine factual knowledge, but rather the ability to think analytically and express
critical thought in academic language, as this is the type of work that is required for
graduate-level academic courses at USC Thornton. While the content of Thornton’s
Graduate Academic Admission Examination may be drawn from a wide range of scholarly
sources, it may be helpful to refer to the following publications by our own faculty:
• Barrett, Janet & Webster, Peter: The Musical Experience: Rethinking Music
Teaching and Learning.
• Brown, Bruce: W. A. Mozart: Così fan tutte (Cambridge Opera Handbook)
• Coppola, William, Herbert, David, & Campbell, Patricia: World Music Pedagogy:
Teaching World Music in Higher Education.
• Demers, Joanna: Anatomy of Thought-Fiction: CHS Report, April 2214
• Foster, Kenneth J: Performing Arts Presenting: From Theory to Practice
• Garcia Corona, León: & Wiens, Kathy: Voices of the Field: Pathways in Public
Ethnomusicology.
• Gordon, Stewart: Beethoven’s 32 Piano Sonatas: A Handbook for Performers
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• Nye, Sean: “Sprockets + Autobahn: Kraftwerk Parodies, German Electronic Music,
and Retro Dreams in Amerika.” In Dreams of Germany: Musical Imaginaries from the
Concert Hall to the Dance Floor. Neil Gregor and Thomas Irvine, eds.
• Page, Tim: On Music: Views and Reviews
• Russo, Frank, Ilari, Beatriz, & Cohen, Annabel: Routledge Companion of
Interdisciplinary Research in Singing
• Simms, Bryan: The Atonal Music of Arnold Schoenberg, 1908-1923
• Sloan, Nate. Switched on Pop (blog with Charlie Harding). http://
www.switchedonpop.com.
• Vest, Lisa: Awangarda: Tradition and Modernity in Postwar Polish Music
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