On the first listening, listen with “soft focus” (don't over-analyze, just try to absorb the tune), but try to determine the meter, mode, tonic pitch (sing it), and form. • Do not write anything down!
On the second listening, catch any of the above you did not, and try to determine the rhythm of the beginning. (downbeat or pick-up? what sort of pick-up?)
Then see if you can sing and conduct from memory. If not, listen once more, singing and conducting along with the recording, then try again.
• Note: the eighth notes are slightly swung. Notate them as regular eighths and do not worry about the microtiming.
When you conduct, mark the measures with your thumb and fingers as we did in class.
With your fingers to help you keep your place, write down any phrase endings, or beginnings, or local climaxes/nadirs that are clear to you (rhythm and/or pitch).
• Do not approach dictation as an unbroken left-to-right task! Work from moments of clarity and security—such as cadences, climaxes, phrase beginnings, downbeats—and then you can interpolate instead of extrapolating. For example, the upbeat may be one of the more disorientaing moments for you. If so, start your notation on the first downbeat and fill in the upbeat later.
Now write the tune as best you can. Hopefully you have clearly internalized it by now. Do not listen again yet.
Write it in E major, cut time (2/2), i.e. with a half-note beat of about 96 bpm.
Now, after writing down a complete version, listen again as much as you need. You may make corrections but do so on a new copy.
You can check pitch against any instrument, but if you want to check the rhythm, the best way is to notate in a program like Sibelius and listen to the playback.
Finally, repeat the entire process to hear and eventually write the bass line.
I will ask for both the final version and the version you completed before additional listening or Sibelius playback.
Write clear comments about the differences between the versions and what you think it tells you about your dictation technique.
PDF template you can use for your response.
Here is the tune.