Melodic Dictation

[rtheunissen]

There are probably already numerous threads on this, but I seriously need some tips or advice for melodic dictation. In a few weeks time, I'll have to be pretty good at it but it's by far the most difficult part of music theory/solfège and I'm not close to the level that I need to be on.

What I'm doing now is practicing dictations on Teoria.com and practicing singing at the piano (scales, intervals, chords and sight-singing exercises), but I still find it terribly difficult.

Does anyone have tips on how to get better at this, different ways/websites to practice, etc.?

Thanks in advance!

[lelle]

When you say melodic dictation, do you mean listening to a melody and writing it down with the correct pitches and note values?

[brogers70]

One thing to add to what you're doing is this. You must know lots and lots of melodies. Just think about them, right them down, and then check to see whether you got them correctly by playing your written version on the piano.

[rtheunissen]

When you say melodic dictation, do you mean listening to a melody and writing it down with the correct pitches and note values?

Yes, that's what I'm going to be tested on. You get 3-4 bars of a melody, you hear it a couple of times and then you must know what it is and have it written down.

[rtheunissen]

Yes, that's what I'm going to be tested on. You get 3-4 bars of a melody, you hear it a couple of times and then you must know what it is and have it written down.

Do you mean like, think of a random melody from a random piece, say a prelude by Bach, or a sonata by Beethoven, and from memory write down what you think it is?

Any other tips, because with what I'm doing know I don't think I'll make it.

[quantum]

Your skill at melodic dictation will grow over time as you practice, but just as when learning to play an instrument some skills might take more time to develop.

What you can do at present is focus on the particular test you will be taking and how the question or exercise will be structured.  Don't try to master all melodic dictation in this short time, rather try to become really good at answering the specific question you will be given on the test. 

For example, you mention 3-4 bar melodies.  If your test question is limited to 3-4 bar melodies, then practice that.  Don't worry about notating 16 bar melodies at this time, you can work on that later.  On your staff paper, prepare for your test by drawing equally spaced bar lines across the page.  Four bar lines per staff system is often a comfortable spacing for dictation.  Notate rhythmic values as if your staff paper was graph paper used in math, that uses equally spaced values for metrical units.  A quarter note always gets X amount of space, an eighth note always gets half the space of X, a sixteenth note always gets a quarter the space of X. 

Will the test include only soloed or unison melodies?  Or will the test require you to pick out the melody from melody + accompaniment?  If the test question is only unison melodies, then just practice with unison melodies. 

Are you given a set number of playbacks on the test?  If so, then do your practice with this limitation.  Attempt to write down as much information as you can within the limited number of playbacks.

Try to identify the melodic ambitus.  It can be useful for conventional structured melodies.  There is authentic and plagal.  For authentic ambitus, the pitches generally fall between tonic and tonic an octave above.  Eg: Joy to the World.  For plagal ambitus, the pitches generally fall between dominant and dominant an octave above, with the melody ending on the tonic in between those two dominants.  Eg: Happy Birthday, or Amazing Grace.  This is useful for dictation of conventional constructed melodies, as the pitch one is looking for can often be found within an authentic or plagal ambitus, or a couple steps outside of it. 

Write down information as you identify it, in a non-linear manner.  Don't try to write the musical excerpt in chronological order.  Look to identify landmarks: starting pitch, ending pitch, cadences, highest pitch, lowest pitch, etc.  If you can identify the rhythm but are unsure of the pitch, notate the rhythm before you forget or get distracted by other things.  Likewise if you can identify pitch but are unsure of rhythm, notate that pitch. 

[rtheunissen]

Your skill at melodic dictation will grow over time as you practice, but just as when learning to play an instrument some skills might take more time to develop.

What you can do at present is focus on the particular test you will be taking and how the question or exercise will be structured.  Don't try to master all melodic dictation in this short time, rather try to become really good at answering the specific question you will be given on the test. 

For example, you mention 3-4 bar melodies.  If your test question is limited to 3-4 bar melodies, then practice that.  Don't worry about notating 16 bar melodies at this time, you can work on that later.  On your staff paper, prepare for your test by drawing equally spaced bar lines across the page.  Four bar lines per staff system is often a comfortable spacing for dictation.  Notate rhythmic values as if your staff paper was graph paper used in math, that uses equally spaced values for metrical units.  A quarter note always gets X amount of space, an eighth note always gets half the space of X, a sixteenth note always gets a quarter the space of X. 

Will the test include only soloed or unison melodies?  Or will the test require you to pick out the melody from melody + accompaniment?  If the test question is only unison melodies, then just practice with unison melodies. 

Are you given a set number of playbacks on the test?  If so, then do your practice with this limitation.  Attempt to write down as much information as you can within the limited number of playbacks.

Try to identify the melodic ambitus.  It can be useful for conventional structured melodies.  There is authentic and plagal.  For authentic ambitus, the pitches generally fall between tonic and tonic an octave above.  Eg: Joy to the World.  For plagal ambitus, the pitches generally fall between dominant and dominant an octave above, with the melody ending on the tonic in between those two dominants.  Eg: Happy Birthday, or Amazing Grace.  This is useful for dictation of conventional constructed melodies, as the pitch one is looking for can often be found within an authentic or plagal ambitus, or a couple steps outside of it. 

Write down information as you identify it, in a non-linear manner.  Don't try to write the musical excerpt in chronological order.  Look to identify landmarks: starting pitch, ending pitch, cadences, highest pitch, lowest pitch, etc.  If you can identify the rhythm but are unsure of the pitch, notate the rhythm before you forget or get distracted by other things.  Likewise if you can identify pitch but are unsure of rhythm, notate that pitch.

Thank you, this is quite useful! I know some things take longer to learn than others, especially something like this where you mostly learn through experience. But I have to at least be a little good at it in six weeks.

To get a better understanding of the test, here is the one and only practice exam there is, with tracks 1 and 2 being melodic dictation. https://fontys.edu/Bachelors-Masters/Bachelors/Academy-of-Music-and-Performing-Arts/How-to-apply-2/Admission-requirements.htm.

I want to try your method, but where can I find practice dictations, besides Teoria.com where the difficulty varies a lot and where I've already seen most dictations...

Oh and one more question, how on earth can you actually hear what pitch you're specifically supposed to hear, most of the time I can, with lots of re-listens, find out if its a C, D or E for example, but as you can see in the practice test, they want me to be able to hear for example A#'s that don't fall in the key signature. Any tips for this?

Thanks for the help, I really need this skill so I'm grateful for all the help I can get!

[bubbamc]

How did you go?

Oh and one more question, how on earth can you actually hear what pitch you're specifically supposed to hear, most of the time I can, with lots of re-listens, find out if its a C, D or E for example, but as you can see in the practice test, they want me to be able to hear for example A#'s that don't fall in the key signature. Any tips for this?

You're given the key signature, so it's a matter of identifying the tonic and writing the melody out in the context of the key.