Music Education majors are required to take Piano Proficiency I and II. Jazz performance majors are required to take Group Jazz Piano I and II. In order to qualify to start these sequences, they need to take and pass the Piano Proficiency I/Group Jazz Piano I placement test (see below).  If they don’t pass the test, they are required to precede the two-class sequence with Beginning Group Lessons: Piano.

Music Technology and Business majors are required to take two group piano classes as part of the major.  Depending on the results of the Piano Proficiency I/Group Jazz Piano I placement test, MTB majors take either the Beginning Group Piano class plus Piano Proficiency I or Group Jazz Piano I, or (if they pass the placement test) both classes in the Piano Proficiency or Group Jazz Piano sequences.  Please note that although Jazz Harmony Lab and Harmony and Form lab are required for the MTB major and are taught in the piano lab, they do not count as a group piano class.

The Piano Proficiency I/Group Jazz Piano I placement test is a fairly straightforward three-part test for which some preparation is required.  Information on how to prepare for the placement test is below.  If you are fairly sure you would not pass the placement test at this point, please email Tom Cleary for an override into MUL 1111A or 1111B (please specify which section you are looking to register for.)  If you feel at all in doubt about whether or not you’d pass the test, you are encouraged to take the test.  Please email Prof. Cleary to schedule a 15-minute time slot to take the test.  This can be done during the semester or during exam week. The sooner you take it, the sooner you can know which class to register for. 

Placement test for Group Jazz Piano I / Piano Proficiency I

Parts #1 and #2 may be done in person, through a video call where you can be near a piano, or through submitting a video of yourself playing them.  If you submit a video, please make sure the shot includes yourself, the keyboard and the music you are reading from, so I can see how you work with the notated score.  It is important to keep your visual focus on the notated score with only occasional checking of your hands and the keyboard.  #3 may be done either in person or through a video call, but may not be done on a prerecorded video.  The easiest way for me to access videos is if you can post them on UVM Streaming, Google Drive, or YouTube; if you don't use any of those platforms, you can use UVM File Transfer. Don't send videos as e-mail attachments. 

1. Choose two major scales and play them hands separately or hands together, one octave ascending and descending, in steady time, with correct fingerings.  Here's a link to a guide to major scale fingerings (PDF).
2. Learn to play one of the pieces and perform it at the placement test with a majority of accurate notes and rhythms, a steady tempo, no stopping or going backward, and eyes mostly following the written score rather than your hands.
3. Sight read a piece with a left-hand part comparable in difficulty to 'Standing In The Need of Prayer' and 'Why Am I Blue' (two- to three-note chords in long note values) and a right-hand part that stays in a single five-finger position like these last two pieces but uses notes higher up on the staff as in 'Can-Can'.  (All the pieces mentioned can be found at the link in item #2.)  A single piece of sight reading and a longer series of sight reading practice pieces are available.