Melodic Dictation of Familiar Tunes | Theory Things William Wieland |
Without producing a sound, transcribe a familiar melody onto staff paper. When finished, play it on your instrument or a piano to check your work. This is an excellent exercise in inner hearing which can be incorporated into your practice schedule. The following tunes are roughly ordered from easy to difficult. Everyone knows hundreds of more melodies. For additional practice and more challenging material, transcribe some of those as well. | |
Stepwise motion and leaps among 1, 3 and/or 5 Hot Cross Buns - only 3 pitches Mary Had a Little Lamb - only 4 pitches Kum Ba Yah Frere Jacques Old MacDonald - only 5 pitches Farmer in the Dell Row, Row, Row Your Boat - the fast notes are repeated pitches O When the Saints Three Blind Mice - trickier fast section The First Noel - mostly conjunct (stepwise) Stepwise motion and leaps among 1, 3 and/or 5 as well as leaps to and from 2 Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star - all leaps are to the same pitch Ode to Joy Theme - entirely stepwise at first Love Me Tender (Elvis) Pop Goes the Weasel This Old Man London Bridge Jingle Bells Refrain Westminster Quarters - only 4 pitches Only notes of a pentatonic scale Jolly Old Saint Nicholas - only 5 pitches Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater Camptown Races Swing Low, Sweet Chariot Amazing Grace Auld Lang Syne Jesus Loves Me Ring Around the Rosie |
Only notes of a major scale London Bridge America (My country 'tis of thee) a.k.a. God Save The Queen Joy to the World - the rhythm is trickier than the pitches Brahms Lullaby Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me Oh, Susannah For He's a Jolly Good Fellow Jingle Bells (entire carol) Happy Birthday Hey Jude Home on the Range Silent Night Hark the Herald Angels Sing O Come All Ye Faithful O Christmas Tree My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean Flintstones Yankee Doodle Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Notes of a major scale and 1 or more chromatic pitches I've Been Working on the Railroad The Hokey Pokey Do-Re-Mi (Doe, a deer) Star Spangled Banner O, Canada Ding, Dong the Witch is Dead Rubber Ducky Somewhere Over the Rainbow Maria The Simpsons |
More Ideas for Lifelong Ear Training:
Ask the instructor about Allegri's Miserere, Brubeck's Blue Rondo a la Turk and Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. |