Melodic and harmonic dictation practice

Where the exercises come from

Nothing here is pre-written. A melody starts as a chord progression (one chord per bar). A rhythm is built from common rhythm patterns, then pitches are chosen starting on the tonic: chord tones on strong beats, steps and neighbor tones in between, and leaps followed by a step in the opposite direction. Melodies that range too widely, repeat too much, or have no clear high point are thrown out and made again. In minor, ^7 is raised when the line goes up and left natural when it goes down, and ^6 is raised when it leads up to a raised ^7, so rising lines use melodic minor and falling lines use natural minor.

A progression is a random path through tonic, predominant and dominant chords, with inversions, cadential six-fours and a cadence at the end. Each chord is then voiced in four parts with correct doubling, range and spacing. The voicing is chosen by a search that never allows parallel fifths or octaves, direct fifths or octaves into the outer voices, unresolved leading tones, sevenths that don’t resolve down by step, augmented seconds, or leaps that are too wide. A second check runs on every progression before it’s used, and anything that fails is thrown out.

Writing your answer

Melodic dictation gives you the first note. You enter the pitches and the rhythm, since rhythm counts about as much as pitch on the exam. Pick a note value, then click the staff at the pitch you hear. A note that would cross a barline is refused, so the bars have to add up. Click a note to select it and click it again to deselect it. A selected note can be dragged, moved with the arrow keys or ▲▼, given a new duration, or deleted. Everything can be undone.

Harmonic dictation gives you the first chord and its Roman numeral. You write the soprano and bass, which is what the exam asks for; tick Alto & tenor too to write all four voices. Each chord has a dropdown with every triad and inversion in the key. The cadence isn’t shown until you show the answer.

Accidentals are absolute: a note without one follows the key signature. After checking, each note is green (right), dark red (wrong or missing) or amber (half right: in a melody, the pitch or the rhythm but not both; in a progression, the right sound spelled differently). Each part gets its own score, mistakes are listed by type, and a drill is suggested based on what went wrong.

Exam mode

Exam mode follows the format the College Board describes for the dictation questions. A melody is played 3 or 4 times (3 for question 1, 4 for question 2) and a progression 4 times, with a 30-second pause after the first playing and a 60-second pause after each later one. The pulse is given before the first playing. In a melody you get the first pitch but have to write its rhythm. In a progression you get the soprano, bass and Roman numeral of the first chord, and write the soprano, the bass and a numeral for every chord. Hints, the tonic button and replays are off. Checking early ends the exam, and when the last pause runs out your answer is checked automatically. Skip the pause is available here, though the real exam doesn’t allow it.

Drills

Rhythm only plays every note on one pitch, so you write only the rhythm. Pitch only gives you the rhythm, so you place only the pitches. Bass line and Roman numerals each cover one part of a harmonic dictation. Chord quality and inversion, cadence type and scale degree are answered by clicking a button, and each answer comes with an explanation.

Hints

There are five hints, each showing more than the last: the meter and the number of notes (or chords) in each bar; the contour of the line; each bar played on its own; the correct version of the first bar you got wrong; and the full answer. If you show the answer before checking, that exercise isn’t saved to your progress.

Progress and the daily question

Each checked exercise is saved in this browser (date, type, time spent and score), which is where the progress section gets its numbers. It stays on this device. Nothing is sent anywhere, and Erase my history or clearing your browser’s site data deletes it. The daily question changes at midnight and links to a drill on the same topic.

What’s covered

Major and minor keys up to four sharps or flats, or a specific key. Triads on every scale degree in root position and first inversion, V7 in all four positions, vii°6, cadential six-fours, authentic and half cadences, and deceptive resolutions. Melodies in 4/4, 3/4, 2/4 and 6/8, four or eight bars long; progressions in 4/4, 3/4 and 2/4. Rhythms from whole notes to sixteenths, including dotted notes. In 6/8 the click plays all six eighth notes, with accents on beats 1 and 4.

Keyboard shortcuts

space play · n new exercise · t tonic · h hint · r show the answer · esc stop.

On the staff: ↑ ↓ move a note, ← → select the previous or next note, − flat, = sharp, 0 natural, ⌫ delete the selected note, esc deselect, ctrl/⌘ + Z undo. Melodic only: 1–5 pick a note value (sixteenth to whole), . adds a dot. Harmonic only: shift + ↑ ↓ switches voice.