Skip to content
Skip to main content

About this free course

Become an OU student

Share this free course

Understanding musical scores
Understanding musical scores

Start this free course now. Just create an account and sign in. Enrol and complete the course for a free statement of participation or digital badge if available.

2.3.3 Practising your skills

You probably realise that there is no right or wrong answer about visualising textures. It is simply a way of helping you understand a musical score by visual analogy. Now you have worked through parts of a piano score based on a familiar melody, you will move onto a piece of music that is not built up from a familiar tune in order to practise your skills.

Now you will listen to a piece of music written on what should now be a familiar two stave score. Before you start listening, look at the music, which begins at No. 4 on this PDF of the music [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] , and see if you can identify ‘landmarks’.

  • Are there double bars and repeat marks?
  • Can you identify different types of texture that will help you follow the music?

Once you have scanned through the music, play the audio and follow the score. Remember to tap the beat as you go, and allow your eyes to follow in time with the beat. You might find using your finger to keep your place in the score helps. If there are rests, allow your eyes to follow the active part of the music. You may need to do this a couple of times so that, as the music becomes more familiar, you can find your way around the score more easily.

Download this audio clip.Audio player: chopin.mp3
Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).