Transcription Course Instructions

This course is designed to help you learn how to transcribe passages of music onto your ear and your instrument(s). The aim of the exercises is not to notate the music, but to learn how to extract the musical elements of the passage into your preferred instruments, and ingrain them in your playing. Students that wish to notate the music are free to do so, but it is not required to make progress in the course.

The goal of these courses is to present a similar experience to the apprenticeship model on which traditional African music and jazz was taught. In this model, the master shows the apprentice a musical passage, and the apprentice must learn how to reproduce it. Unlike a school or academy, graduation from the apprenticeship model is not based on completing a fixed curriculum, but on actual mastery of the material.

How to use the course

The questions in the course refer you to the passage that you must transcribe. Due to copyright laws, an audio file of the passage is not provided. Instead, you are given the passage as the information about the track (artist, album, and track number) and the start and end timestamps of the passage (which could just say to play over the entire song). There is the option to give an optional external link, containing a link to the YouTube video of the track, for example.

You then get a copy of the track through your own means, load the track into your preferred music player (see the section on tools for the recommended player), and find the passage in the track. You then proceed according to the stage indicated by the exercises.

Lessons

The course is divided in several lessons, each of which will help you become familiar with a different aspect of the material.

Singing

First listen to the musical passage until you can audiate it clearly in your head. Then sing over the passage. At this stage it's not required to be accurate as possible. Rather, learn to sing the main elements of the passage and experiment with different melodies over it. The goal is to learn to navigate the context implied by the passage.

Transcription

With the basic context implied by the passage now internalized in your ear, try to play over it using your instrument. The goal at this point is not to accurately reproduce the passage, but rather about learning to navigate that context and use it as a basis for improvisation. You can focus on different elements or sections each time you practice.

The lesson depends on sufficiently mastering the singing lesson.

Advanced Singing

At this stage, you can sing and play over the context implied by the passage, and sing it with more detail and precision in a variety of keys. It's at this point that you can engage in what is traditionally called transcription.

Play over the passage using your instrument, and try to reproduce it in more detail than in the basic transcription lesson. You should also transpose the passage up or down a random number of semitones. You should still use the passage as a basis for improvisation, but the focus is much narrower than in the basic transcription lesson, and the actual music played in the passage take precedence over the context implied by it.

The lesson depends on sufficiently mastering the singing lesson.

Advanced Transcription

At this stage, you can sing and play over the context implied by the passage, and sing it with more detail and precision in a variety of keys. It's at this point that you can engage in what is traditionally called transcription.

Play over the passage using your instrument, and try to reproduce it in more detail than in the basic transcription lesson. You should also transpose the passage up or down a random number of semitones. You should still use the passage as a basis for improvisation, but the focus is much narrower than in the basic transcription lesson, and the actual music played in the passage take precedence over the context implied by it.

The lesson depends on sufficiently mastering the advanced singing lesson and the transcription lesson.

Tools

Transcribe!

The recommended tool for these exercises is Transcribe!. This is proprietary and paid software, but is the best option for helping you transcribe the passages in these courses. It can slow down, loop, and transpose the audio. It also has built-in tools to help you find which notes and chords are being played.

There exists similar software, although not as feature-rich as Transcribe. At the very least, you should be able to easily loop, slow down, and transpose the audio.