Theory Diplomas: Analysis, Scholarship and Thesis
Theory diplomas - DipLCM, ALCM, LLCM and FLCM - are written and research-based. They move from doing theory to arguing about it: harmonic and structural analysis, counterpoint, orchestration, editorial and performance-practice questions, and at the higher levels a dissertation. The examiner is looking for a position defended with evidence, not a summary of the score.
What the papers demand
- Close analysis of set works: claims about structure, harmony and function, supported by bar references.
- Technical competence: realising a figured bass, writing a short fugal exposition, orchestrating a passage idiomatically for the given forces.
- Scholarship: citing editions and sources, using a consistent referencing style, acknowledging counter-argument.
- Originality at LLCM and FLCM: a thesis with a defensible question, a stated method and a conclusion that follows from the evidence.
Worked example
An ALCM question asks how a development section creates tension. A weak answer lists the keys visited. A strong answer shows that the sequence moves by descending fifths while the bass is progressively fragmented, so harmonic rhythm accelerates as the texture breaks up - and it cites the bars where each change happens.
Traps
Retelling the score instead of analysing it; blowing the word count by quoting at length; no engagement with secondary literature; calling a chord “unusual” without saying what it does; ignoring an instruction to compare two readings of the same passage.