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Understanding musical scores
Understanding musical scores

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1.3.5 Single line notation in context – the bigger picture

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With practice, you will get used to feeling the beat, listening for repeating rhythmic and melodic patterns and start spotting them in scores that you look at.

Finish the week by looking at how understanding a single line score can help you understand how much larger scores work and how the various melodies fit together. In the following video, you will be able to follow the score while you listen to a section of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. We will look at the melody based on Frère Jacques as it appears in different parts of the score, first the double bass, then the cello, the viola and finally the flute.

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