Ace Berklee's "ESPA"-- Save money!

Day 2 of Berklee, I am sorry to say, is not a fun one. It begins bright and early with what Berklee students dispassionately refer to as the "ESPA"-- Entering Student Proficiency Assessment. Even just the name of the test is pretentious and dry, which I felt was very out of sync with the "Berklee way".

This test is good for a lot of reasons though-- it gives you the option to test out of many core music curriculum classes, in the categories of Harmony, Ear Training, and Arranging. And testing out of classes means saving money on tuition, which I know everyone wants to do. It also mentally prepares/shocks students as to what lies ahead in their years at Berklee.

Here is a run-through of Berklee's "ESPA." For starters, it's at 9 AM. Why at 9 AM, the day after many students have traveled halfway across the globe, just moved in, and are still in culture shock? I have no idea. I didn't really have a chance to question it myself, because before I could even register where I was, I was crawling out of bed at 8:30 AM. This gave me about enough time to brush my teeth and get dressed, run downstairs and attempt to find this testing room in the maze that is 150 Mass Ave. Luckily, I got there about 2 minutes before the test started, though I was mildly dirty and starving.

Afterwords, we began the ear training exercises. (If you aren't familiar with ear training, you will a good idea of what is covered here.) The ear training section was completely multiple choice, so there was no melodic dictation. At the beginning of this section, a CD was turned on, which played a rhythm 3 times while students had to choose from 4 choices which rhythm was being played by merely recognizing the notation on paper. It began with a very easy 4/4 time signature, with only quarter and 8th notes, but progressed quickly to include dotted 16ths, syncopation, and more complex structure. Then the test moved on to melodic recognition, which was basically the same concept but with melody. It went from simple examples in C major to one or two in G minor, then to a more chromatically-oriented melody. A couple of chord progression questions followed after this, which I thought were pretty easy (one of them was just a I-IV-V-I). A few of the last question of this test were really bizarre though. On one question, 2 pitches were played, and you had to name them out of thin air (the choices were E&C, G&B, C#&A, so the intervalic relationship was the same). I am not sure if they are expecting people to have perfect pitch, but if so, I kind of beat the system by remembering that the previous example ended on C, which made things a lot easier. The last question was certainly the most ridiculous; it was a sequence of very random notes, each played with a different midi effect, so they was nearly impossible to distinguish.

Overall, the ear training section was pretty easy in my opinion, but then again I have had a lot of practice with it. Most people (who aren't singers) have very little experience with ear training, and the only way to get better is to constantly practice. (Bet you've heard that one before...)

The next section, Harmony, was even more dry. There was a lot of chord analysis, some very easy key signature recognition, and even note recognition (i.e. what key has 3 sharps?). The first few questions were basically to see who could read music. This section wasn't difficult for someone who has covered basic theory and harmony before-- but it was very tedious and time consuming. (They allot at least 4 hours of time for this test so it's not a problem). What follows is some major, minor, and modal scale building and recognition. Then lots and lots of harmonic analysis!

After this, there was an arranging section. This was primarily about being able to notate music correctly, knowing how to write a key signature and time signature, and there was a strong emphasis on what they call the "invisible bar line".

To learn more about these topics the way Berklee will present them on the exam, you should check out this link to their website for sample questions.

If you want to test out past Harmony 3 or 4, or into arranging 2, you will need to put in quite a bit of effort. I suggest looking through this list of topics I have created for music theory, as well as getting Berklee's books as I said before.

I would consider myself pretty well-prepared for this exam; I have had theory classes before, and done a lot with ear training. I ended up testing into Ear Training 4 and Harmony 3, and Arranging 1, which I felt was just about right. Oh and by the way, they won't let you test past the 4th level of Harmony or Ear Training, and Arranging only has level 1-2.

If you are well prepared for this test, it will take you at least 2 hours to finish (you keep going until you don't know the answers anymore), so eat a good breakfast, and get mentally ready to wake up early. Good luck with the ESPA.