Melodic Dictation

Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman,
and today we're going to be doing a
melodic dictation challenge.
A dictation is when you write down something that you hear.
Like, if someone gave a speech:
Four score and seven years ago...
and you heard that speech and wrote it down.
and seven years ago...
Then that's called dictating my speech.
In music we practice dictation so you can develop the very useful skill of hearing a song
and then writing it down so you can play it or share it with someone else.
To do our dictation activity today,
I recommend that you use
the printable worksheet for this lesson, which is found in the materials for this unit
available from our website.
Another option would be to simply find some blank staff paper. That could work too.
Last of all, you'll need a pencil.
Make sure it has an eraser, because we all make mistakes, right?
That's part of how we learn.
Press pause if you need a moment to get your worksheet and pencil,
and then let's get started with our melodic dictation challenge.
Okay, let's do this first melodic dictation challenge together as a kind of practice.
How it's going to work is
I'll always give you the starting clef and
the first note
of the melody that you're supposed to dictate. If you're just using blank staff paper,
then you'll need to draw in the treble clef and this first note.
If you're using the worksheet that you can download from our website, that's already given for you.
Then you're going to hear a melody like this:
And your job is to try and write that melody down.
The first note is drawn for you.
So let's listen to that melody and
see if we can figure out how it goes.
Listen one more time.
Now, why don't you take a stab at it.
Try and draw what you heard,
and in a few seconds I'll show you
the correct answer and you can see how you did.
Here's the correct answer. We had:
DO DO RE RE MI FA SO
Now, check your answer and see how you did.
Again, this one was just practice,
so if you need to erase anything and fix it
that's totally fine.
Mistakes are always aloud.
Good, now can you sing the letter
names? What's the first note?
If you said G you're correct.
Let's sing all the
letter names while you point on your page, go:
G G A A B C D
Great.
Now that was
our practice round. Let's try another one together.
For our next melodic dictation
challenge, we'll be in the treble clef starting on middle C.
So press pause if
you need some time to draw that,
or if you're using the worksheet it should
already be there on your page for you.
Now, listen to the melody. I'll play it
two times, and you try and write down what you hear.
Here goes:
Try and write that down.
Here it comes again:
Try and write those notes down.
In a couple seconds,
I'll put the correct answer up, so if you need some more time to draw, just press pause.
Here comes the correct answer:
Here's the correct answer for that melodic dictation challenge.
Will you check your notes and see if yours match?
A few tips about drawing notes: Here I have a C D
Remember with D it's important that it
just barely touches, but does not cross this line.
It's like it's stuck to it,
like a drop. D is for drop about to fall.
Okay, so there there's a D. C D C D C D E
Okay, let's point to each note and sing the letter names.
I'll point on my notes,
and you point to the notes that you just drew.
First notice C, say the letters, go:
C D C D C D E
Great, let's try another one.
Alright, this time we'll be in the bass clef,
and can you tell me the note we're starting on?
if you said C, or bass C, you're correct.
So we're starting on bass C this time,
and your job is to listen and
draw the notes that you hear. Here goes:
Remember, there are no skips. It's all
steps or repeats. That's my clue.
Here comes the melody again.
In a few seconds the correct answer will
appear, so if you need more time just press pause.
Here it comes.
Here's the correct answer for that challenge.
It was C D E D C C C.
in case you need to fix anything, just press pause, erase and fix.
It's always fine
to make a mistake as long as we learn from it, right?
So,
once you have it fixed,
then point and let's sing the letter names. Starts on C.
Point with me and sing,
go:
C D E D C C C
Great, let's try another one.
Okay, we're in the bass clef once again.
Can you tell me the name of the starting note?
If you said ground G, you're correct.
It's around this low ground G.
Once again, remember that there
are no skips. It's all steps or repe ...