School of Music
School of Music
We are delighted that you are considering the Southern Miss School of Music, and we
want to make your transition to our university as smooth as possible. Therefore,
we have assembled this guide to provide you with important and helpful information
before you even get here. Please read everything carefully and thoroughly.
An agreement between two academic institutions that a course offered at one institution
will be accepted for transfer credit at the partnering institution. Articulation agreements
help students take appropriate courses at the community/junior college that will transfer
for credit toward a bachelor's degree at the university of their choice. Click here for more information.
SATURDAY, MAY 4, 2019
TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2019
SATURDAY, MAY 4, 2019 | Fine Arts Building
Each year, we offer you the opportunity to be placed properly in the right aural skills and theory courses (if needed) as well as piano class. Information for each follows:
You can only take this test once; we recommend that you take it in the spring, since you may be more familiar with the material. Tests will be administered on the Southern Miss Hattiesburg Campus in the Fine Arts Building (FAB). Click here for a map of the campus.
A sign-up sheet for the Piano Competency Test and Placement will be posted on the FAB 212 Piano Lab Door. If you have questions regarding the Piano Test, please contact Dr.%20Ellen%20Elder.
Read more about Piano Competency exam here(.pdf)Perhaps the most important thing to do during Preview is to register for your first semester of classes. You will be brought to the School of Music for this. It is extremely helpful if you bring a copy of your transcript; otherwise, registration may take longer and/or result in faulty advising.
If you do not attend Preview, you will have to wait until the beginning of the semester to register, and class availability will be extremely low; therefore, we see it as a must to register for one of the Previews above and attend it. We also recommend that you attend one of the earlier Previews, so that you can be more assured of getting into the classes that you want – the later you register, the harder it gets.
On a final note, new transfer students sometimes find that their transferred courses
were not entered correctly into their Southern Miss degree progress report or are
even missing. This may occur for several reasons: final semester at your previous
school has not yet been processed or even sent over to us, a glitch in the computer
system, human error, etc. Therefore, during your first semester at Southern Miss
you should be sure that everything looks correct. If not, please see the Undergraduate
Coordinator as soon as possible to fix the problem.
Every student pursuing a bachelor of music degree at Southern Miss must perform an end-of-semester jury. You are probably familiar with these. However, every student in this category must also pass what is called a Sophomore Proficiency Exam (originally called Barrier Jury). This examination is longer than the typical jury, and it tests the student’s ability to play at the upper-divisional level (200-level = freshmen and sophomores, or lower divisional; 400 = juniors or seniors, or upper divisional). All music students in this category must pass this.
Students who begin their music degrees at Southern Miss typically take the Sophomore Proficiency Exam at the end of their sophomore year. Transfer students are required to take it as soon as possible (usually at the end of a given semester, but permissible at auditions). Transfer students can lose quite a bit of time at Southern Miss if they are not already on track to take this jury before they arrive. Therefore, we strongly recommend that transfer students study the following requirements for their major instrument and are familiar with all or part of them before arriving to Southern Miss
Student must sign up for a double time-slot for the jury (20 minutes instead of 10
minutes)
All major and minor scales, as defined by the studio professor on that instrument
Supplementary technical material, as determined by the studio professor
Oral exam encompassing knowledge of literature, pedagogy, recordings, and performers,
specific to the instrument
Solo work(s) representing major repertoire accompanied by piano, as chosen by the
studio professor
Etude(s) as chosen by the studio professor
Student must sign up for a double time-slot for the jury (20 minutes instead of 10
minutes)
All major and minor scales, as defined by the studio professor on that instrument
Supplementary technical material, as determined by the studio professor
Oral exam encompassing knowledge of literature, pedagogy, recordings, and performers
specific to the instrument
Etude(s) and/or Solo work(s) representing major repertoire accompanied by piano, as
chosen by the studio professor
Note: Deficient Proficiencies must be completed before the end of a student’s first semester for the student to remain as a music major. All but two proficiencies must be completed before a student can register for MUP 456. All proficiencies must be completed in order to receive a passing grade for MUP 456.
Music Ed, BA degrees
Snare Level 1 and 2
Mallets Level 1 - 4
Set Level 1 - 3
Timpani Level 1 and 2
Latin Lab
Performance degree
Snare Level 1 and 2
Mallets Level 1 - 5
Set Level 1 - 4
Timpani Level 1 and 2
Latin Lab
Jazz Studies degree
Snare Level 1 and 2
Mallets Level 1 - 5
Set Level 2 - 6
Timpani Level 1
Latin Lab
Please check your repertoire choices with any member of the piano faculty before proceeding.
BME Choral/Vocal, BM Voice Performance, and BA with Voice Emphasis
For the Barrier Audition/Jury, each voice major will prepare and present six (6) contrasting
pieces that must include the following four languages: English, Italian, German, and
French. A total of three pieces will be sung, with the student selecting the first
piece and the voice faculty selecting the subsequent two pieces. In order to pass
the Barrier, the student must receive a majority vote of Pass by the voice faculty.
BM Voice Performance only: In order to continue in the degree track, the student must also secure a majority Pass of the Performer’s Certificate. It is possible to pass the barrier and be denied the Performer’s Certificate.