Reading, Writing and Rhythmetic

The ABCs of Music Transcription

Ear player, schooled musician, or somewhere in between — this book will improve your ability to transcribe music, and help you make the connection between the music you hear and what it looks like on the page. This book defines a step-by-step process, the “ABCs,” toward achieving the goal of seeing what you hear, and hearing what you see. A simple formula is used for this process: Listening (ear training) + Analysis (brain training) = Successful Transcription. Throughout this book you will participate in a variety of listening, singing, playing, reading and composing activities, all designed to prepare you for the ultimate goal of writing down musical ideas — creating a finished transcription. The heart and soul of this book is transcribing “real music” examples. Throughout the book you’ll be working with over 300 songs from almost every musical genre. Teachers will find hundreds of pages of helpful ideas here that will augment your ear training instruction.