Day 15: Mystery Transcription

Friday, August 21st, 2026

Objectives

I can transcribe an unfamiliar melody from notation without being told what it is.
I can use playback to check my own accuracy.
I can identify a piece of music by ear after writing it down.

Warmup: Set Up and Say No Names

You are getting a melody today with no title on it. Nobody is going to tell you what it is. You are going to write it down, press play, and find out.

Two rules before we start:

If you recognize it early, keep it to yourself. You will ruin it for everyone at your table. Write it down, wait, and let them have the same moment you did.
Do not guess from the notation. Write what is actually on the page. If you decide too early what the tune is, you will start entering what you remember instead of what is written, and you will get it wrong.

Set up your score:

Create New Score in MuseScore.
Leave the title blank for now.
Instrument: Piano or any treble instrument.
Key: C major. Time signature: 4/4. Measures: 8.
Save as LastName_Mystery.

Checkpoint: Warmup

My score is 8 measures, 4/4, C major, with no title yet.
It is saved as LastName_Mystery.

Work Session: Part 1 — Transcribe It

Work from the notation you were handed. Read each measure before you enter it, the same way you did yesterday.

What Is Different Today

Yesterday’s melody moved mostly by step — one note to its neighbor. This one has leaps. Measure 3 jumps up, then drops a long way down. Leaps are harder to read because you cannot just count “next line, next space” — you have to actually identify the note.

There is also a lot of repetition. Several measures use the same note over and over. Watch the rhythm on those, because the rhythm is doing all the work.

The Melody

Use this if you get lost. Every note is a quarter note unless the table says otherwise.

Measure	Beat 1	Beat 2	Beat 3	Beat 4
1	E	E	E (half)	—
2	E	E	E (half)	—
3	E	G	C (dotted quarter)	D (eighth)
4	E (whole)	—	—	—
5	F	F	F	F
6	F	E	E	E
7	E	D	D	E
8	D (half)	—	G (half)	—

The C in measure 3 is the one below the E — the melody jumps up to G and then falls past E all the way down. Getting that octave right is the difference between recognizing this and not.

Check As You Go

Enter one measure, press spacebar, listen, fix. Do not do all eight and then check.

Checkpoint: Transcribe

All 8 measures are entered.
Every measure has exactly four beats.
I checked measure by measure instead of all at once.

Work Session: Part 2 — Name That Tune

Now play the whole thing.

If it does not sound like anything, that is information — it means something is wrong. Go find it. The most common cause is a wrong octave, and the second most common is a rhythm that is close but not exact. Set your tempo to around 120 BPM and try again; a tune played too slowly is much harder to recognize.

When you know what it is:

Open File → Score Properties — or double-click the empty title area at the top of the score.
Type the title of the song.
Save.

Adding the title is how you turn it in with your answer attached.

Checkpoint: Name That Tune

My transcription plays back and sounds like a real song.
I figured out what it is.
The title is typed onto my score.

Work Session: Part 3 — Export and Submit

Graded, same as yesterday.

Open the File menu.
Choose Export, then PDF.
Save it where you can find it.
Upload the PDF to the assignment on CTLS. Upload the file, not a link.

Your title has to be on the score. A correct transcription with no title is an incomplete answer.

Checkpoint: Submit

My PDF has the title on it.
I uploaded the PDF to CTLS.
My MuseScore file is saved.

Closing

You have now read two pieces of music you had never read before and gotten both of them right. That is the whole skill. Everything from here on is you writing instead of reading.

Monday is a short period because of BEACON testing. We pick up scales, which is the last thing you need before you start writing your own melodies on Tuesday.

Closing Question

Think about this — you may be called on to share your answer out loud.

You recognized the song from playback, not from looking at it. What would you have to get better at to recognize it just by reading the page?

Checkpoint: Closing

My titled PDF is submitted on CTLS.
My MuseScore file is saved as LastName_Mystery.

Standards

MSMTC8.PR.3 — Develop personal interpretations that consider creators’ intent (realizing an unfamiliar work from notation alone).
MSMTC8.PR.5 — Perform expressively, with appropriate interpretation and technical accuracy, and in a manner appropriate to the audience and context (accurate transcription and tempo choice in notation software).
MSMTC8.RE.4 — Support personal evaluation of musical works and performance(s) based on analysis, interpretation, and established criteria (identifying a work by analyzing its notated pitch and rhythm).