Week 3: Transcribing & Modulating by Ear

Focus

Developing listening skills and flexibility through real-world musical material.

Core Skills

• Transcribing short melodies (e.g., jingles, pop hooks) into scale degrees

• Identifying tonal center (“finding do”)

• Modulating melodies into new keys using numbers

• Playing by ear on primary instrument

Collaborative Exercises

• Group transcription of a familiar jingle

• “Guess the scale degree” listening games

• Peer teaching: one participant explains their transcription process

Teaching Application

• Design a lesson where students transcribe a melody without notation first

• Practice guiding students to shift a melody into a new key

Reflection Questions

• What strategies helped you find “do”?

• How does this process compare to traditional notation-first teaching?

• How might this build student autonomy, confidence and independence?