It has been 25 years since students first took exams to enter a department of music studies at a Greek University. The so-called special subjects at that time were "harmony" and "musical dictation" (dictée). Since then, many things have changed: new universities with a focus on music studies were established in Corfu, Athens, and Thessaloniki, and the number of young people interested in studying music has multiplied. Also, since 2003, instead of the "musical dictation" subject, students are now examined in "musical auditory skills assessment".

The role of this work is to contribute to the preparation of those who want to enter the music studies departments of Greek Universities. We clarify that this is not a manual of harmony or music theory. However, we aspire that this book will help increase the candidates' chances of success drastically. This can only happen if they already have a solid foundation in music education from music high schools or/and music schools/conservatories where they studied. Nevertheless, clarifying comments, footnotes, and instructions accompanying each harmony topic and each test can play a significant role in consolidating some basic rules of music.

The work is divided into two parts. The first part deals with harmony. Here you can find all the harmony topics of the exams from 1986 to 2010. We initially present them unsolved so that they can be copied onto a separate staff for solving. Then, the topics are presented solved. Of course, this is one of the "correct" solutions, as it is known that there are more than one correct harmonizations. Each topic solution is accompanied by observations and comments. The first part concludes with conclusions on addressing the problems in the harmony exam.

The second part deals with the musical auditory skills test. Here you will find all the musical auditory skills tests from 2003 to 2010. Given that it was established as one of the special examination subjects relatively recently and thus there is not enough experience as with the harmony subject, we estimated that creating hypothetical tests would contribute to the candidates' thorough preparation. Thus, after these 8 tests, we included 10 of our own made based on the conditions set by the Ministry of Education, following a progressive degree of difficulty increase. These tests, like the harmony topics, appear in two forms: the one that will come into the students' hands for solving and the one with the solutions, which simultaneously constitute the material for the teacher's execution.

Following are the conclusions on addressing the problems in the auditory test exam. We promise our readers that in each subsequent edition, we will update the work with the new harmony and auditory topics of the past period.

To help the student understand exactly how the auditory tests work and what "secrets" arise in the effort to recognize various intervals, chords, etc., this book is accompanied by two compact discs (CDs). The first CD contains the performances of the 10 model tests. We note the dual possibility of its use: the teacher can "play" the CD to the students in class, or the students can solve the test on their own by listening to the CD at home.

Also, the professor can use the same test two or three times by selecting different answers each time. Thus, he will have 10 tests at his disposal, which with repetitions can provide material for 20 or 30 lessons. The second CD contains the actual execution of the 2005 musical auditory skills test, and we believe it can significantly contribute to candidates' familiarity with exam conditions.

Among the useful tables in the work is the one with the admission bases to the four music universities of the country from 2000 to 2010.

The editing of the musical examples and texts was successively handled by: Melpo Bonatou, Irini Tiniakou, and Dimitrios Ntoulias. I would like to warmly thank Kostas Papagrigoriou and Haris Nakas for the trust they showed me.

(from the author's introductory note)