The Complete Idiot''s Guide to Music Theory

Part 3:
Tunes
152
Exercises
Exercise 11-1
Compose a 32-measure song in the ABCA form: verse, chorus, bridge, and verse. Use the key of G, in
4/4 time, and label each section of the piece.

---

Learn how to train your ears so you can write down the music you hear; then
discover how to create simple accompaniment parts on piano or guitar. Finally,
learn how to take a song in one key and transpose it to a totally different key—
no math required!
4
Part
Accompanying

---

---

12
Transcribing What You Hear
In This Chapter
◆
Understanding why ear training is important
◆
Discovering how to actively listen
◆
Developing your tonal memory
◆
Learning how to transcribe songs from CDs and tapes
Introduction, Track 1
In an ideal world, everything you need is served up to you on a silver platter. As
a musician, that means you’ll always get perfectly noted pieces of sheet music
from which to read, with all the chords and melodies and rhythms clearly writ-
ten out.
Unfortunately, we don’t live in an ideal world: You won’t always get sheet music
for the songs you have to play; sometimes you’ll be expected to “play by ear”
and figure out the music on your own.
How do you write down a piece of music, note for note, based on a few listens
to a CD? It’s a particular skill, that’s for sure; one that involves a technique called
ear training.
That means you have to train your ears to recognize certain rhythms
and intervals, and be able to transfer what you hear to the written page.
Training Your Ear
Consider the following: You’re in a band that plays the latest hit songs, and the
band leader gives you a CD and asks you to learn a new tune—by tomorrow
night. No sheet music, no one to answer your questions, no one to practice
with you and help you figure it out—you’re completely on your own, just you
and your CD player.
Or you’re working with a songwriter who doesn’t read music. Your friend sings
a melody, and asks you to write it down so he can send it to a music publicist.
He doesn’t know what key the song is in, or what notes he’s singing; he leaves
those details up to you to figure out.
Chapter

---