WJEC/Eduqas GCSE Music Revision Guide Sample

49 AURAL DICTATION CHAPTER 4: AURAL DICTATION before writing them down – and in learning musical language, you must do the same. Copy and repeat musical fragments, then try writing them down. LISTEN COPY NOTATE Listen to lots of short three- or four-note melodic and rhythmic patterns. Copy and repeat the pattern, then visualise how the idea would look if written down. Gradually, you will be able to copy and work out more complex patterns in different keys. Test yourself : how accurately can you copy and write what you play and hear? You can improve your skills without listening to any music. Think of an easy melody and see if you can write the tune down. Then go to a keyboard or instrument of your choice and play what you have written. If it doesn’t sound anything like you expected it to, then persevere and work out why. For example, you could try ‘Away in a Manger’ in the key of C major. This is in 3/4 time and the first note is a G. Work out the pitches, then the rhythm. Now try writing it in the key of A major and again in E major. Activity 4.1 Look at some pieces of music (ideally, short notated melodies). Tap out the rhythms. Give yourself the pitch of the first note, then try to sight-sing and play the melodies. This will really help to improve your music reading skills. Activity 4.2 Compose some two-bar musical phrases in a variety of different keys and time signatures. You can keep a note of them however you wish – notate them on manuscript paper or using technology. Perform or play them to a friend to see if they can work out what the patterns and motifs are. You could give the starting note and ending note if you wish. Activity 4.3 The following exercises will focus on: • identification of pitch and rhythms • time signatures • pitch and rhythmic dictation • keys • chords and cadences. Activity 4.4