Transcribing Pitches
We turn now to pitches!
Just as we orient to meter when figuring out rhythms, we orient to key to figure out pitches. For people without absolute pitch, this may be the only way to figure out what’s going on. For people with absolute pitch, it makes sure we’re building “tonal” hearing skills, which help us understand and track the relationships among pitches and between pitches and key. So make sure you start by clearly establishing the tonic as a point of reference. The steps are reviewed below; click on each step to expand for additional advice.
The next step is to determine the scale degree of the first pitch in the melody. Make sure you know where tonic is. Then, hum or subvocalize the beginning note, and then walk down through the scale until you get to the tonic. (For most people, walking down from starting note to tonic is more reliable than walking either direction from tonic to starting note.) Count the number of pitches you need to go through to determine that starting pitch’s scale degree.
From that first pitch on, you’ll typically find two different kinds of situations, which call for different approaches:
- Melodies often simply step through the scale, up or down. Where this occurs, it may be obvious to you. If so, great news! Simply follow the up-and-down motion of the melody and as long as you’ve started in the right place, you’ll be writing the correct scale degrees/solfège.
- Of course, melodies can also leap around. At first, we strongly recommend that when you notice a leap, you treat the second note as a new “starting pitch” and walk it down through the scale until you get to tonic to figure out what it is. Over time, as you get used to more musical patterns, strengthen your internal models of scale degrees, and develop more sensitivity to harmony, you should be able to rely on intuition more often.
Finally, we invite you to bring your playback skills into this activity! Sometimes, and particularly if you are very comfortable with your primary (non-voice) instrument, imagining what it would feel like to play the music you hear is really helpful in determining exactly what is going on.
It may help to quickly jot down the scale degrees or solfège syllables of the melody in protonotation or shorthand before moving to full notation. To do so, simple write the appropriate scale degree number or the first letter of the appropriate solfège syllable. (For chromatic notes, you can add an up or down arrow to a number or the appropriate vowel to the solfège syllable.) You can find examples of protonotation here.
Then, making sure to use the appropriate rhythmic values, simply write your scale degrees on the appropriate line or space on the staff. (Make sure, for leaps, you’re paying attention to whether they go up or down.) If you’re not fluent in notation, it may help to pay particular attention to which lines/spaces represent scale degrees 1/do and 5/sol.
Example: Transcribing pitches
Simple:
Compound:
Activity: Translate pitches from protonotation/shorthand into staff notation
Goal: Practice connecting your understanding of music to its written notation.
Before you start: You’ll need to have some completed protonotation/shorthand. See the previous sections on rhythm and pitch for activities that lead you through this process. You’ll also need staff paper to notate your transcription.
Instructions:
- Make sure you have found the tonic, and locate it on an instrument or with absolute pitch. If you have not already, write the appropriate clef and time signature—and, in between, add the appropriate key signature, remembering to keep in mind whether the key is major or minor. (Note: clef, key signature, and time signature go in alphabetical order, and if the melody continues onto additional lines, you only need to repeat clef and key.)
- If you’re not yet feeling fluent with notation, anchor your vision on the important notes of the key, particularly scale degrees 1/do and 5/sol. We describe a similar method in the sight-reading chapter.
- Then, making sure to use the appropriate rhythmic values (see previous section), simply write your scale degrees on the appropriate line or space on the staff. (Make sure, for leaps, you’re paying attention to whether they go up or down.)
Activity: Write down a melody in staff notation without using protonotation/shorthand
Goal: Practice connecting your understanding of music to its written notation.
Before you start: You’ll need staff paper to notate your transcription. In addition, if this process is daunting and/or you don’t feel totally fluent with staff notation, we encourage you to rethink your choice to go straight to staff notation and start with protonotation/shorthand. This will help the process feel less overwhelming. With time and practice, it will get easier and more reliable to go directly to staff notation.
Instructions:
- Listen to a song from the playlist below. If you have not already, determine the meter. Determine the tonic and locate it on an instrument or with absolute pitch. If you have not already, write the appropriate clef and time signature—and, in between, add the appropriate key signature, remembering to keep in mind whether the key is major or minor. (Note: clef, key signature, and time signature go in alphabetical order, and if the melody continues onto additional lines, you only need to repeat clef and key.)
- Listen through the first 2–3 phrases of the melody, doing your best to memorize it. Writing while you listen may interfere with memorization, so we encourage you just to listen and memorize at first.
- If you have not already done so, figure out how the rhythms relate to the meter.
- Determine the starting pitch of the melody as a scale degree number or moveable-do solfège syllable. From there, figure out the rest of the pitches by following contour, imagining playing the music on an instrument (or actually doing so), and when necessary, walking a pitch down to tonic.
- Using your knowledge from steps 2 and 3, write the appropriate note values on the correct lines and spaces of the staff. (In reality, you will probably find yourself moving freely between steps 3–5.)
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