Eight Tips To Improve Your Rhythmic Dictation Skills

So, I’m working on the next score study video, which will be the Punch Brothers’ cover of Church Street Blues, and it’s having me do a bunch of Rhythmic dictation. So, I thought I might share 8 tips I’ve found help me with rhythmic dictation. Disclaimer: Many of these things are not allowed on Dictation tests in your ear training classes. But, real life dictation isn’t getting exactly three listens of a Mozart sonata and writing it all down. So, these will be tips for Rhythmic Dictation in the wild.

Even professional musicians aren’t perfect, or even efficient at dictation. It’s hard. Especially when there are dense textures or harmonies. Take your time. This isn’t a test. You have limitless listen-throughs. And much like with everything else in music, it gets easier with practice. If you’ve fallen out of practice, or are completely new at this - I suggest starting with something that has more simple rhythms, and textures. Maybe down start out trying to hear and write down every note of a full orchestral work.
Tap along/conduct along with the music to mark your place in time. I really like conducting. That spatial pattern can help distinguish beats (and even off beats) better than the repetitive tapping of a finger or foot.
Use landmarks. Once I’ve figured out the meter I like to start with some kind of grid - a piece of graph paper, or just lines on a regular paper, or even the use of technology like a notation software, or a DAW like Logic or ProTools - something that has a MIDI editor. Anything that clearly shows beats and subdivisions.Downbeats tend to be the most obvious to hear. So, if you know something happens on a down beat, mark it down. Beats are often pretty clear as well. If I can get all of the beats marked down, it’s a solid start. I think of it like starting with the border pieces on a puzzle. That being said…
Grab whatever information you can on each listen through. Even if there are gaps. This can even be something like “I know this note doesn’t fall on a beat.” Or maybe you hear 4 16ths in a row. A good shorthand is just two beams.
Fill in from there. Again, take as much time as you need. But, if you’re like me, the longer you spend on something is more time to second guess yourself. So:
Ockham’s Razor. The most simple answer is more likely correct. If you’ve got a double dotted 64th written down, more often than not, it’s not the right answer. This may be a good time to point out that humans aren’t machines, and not always perfectly in time. Or perhaps that “laid back” or “rubato” feel is an artistic choice. We’ll talk more about that in the Score Study video.
Use all available resources. Again, this isn’t a test. No one is marking off for the use of technology. And, No one is giving you bonus points if you can do it with just your ear. So, use whatever you’ve got to help you figure the rhythm out. YouTube allows a 25% playback speed. That can be useful. Additionally, if you’ve got a video of someone play, you can gather information by actually watching what they are playing.
Finally, you can punch in what you’ve got into a notation software or a DAW to check your answers. I tend to like taking notes on paper, but a notation software can also serve as your grid from Steps 3-5.

There you have it. 8 tips for better rhythmic dictation. Hopefully you found them helpful. I’ll have a new Score Study video up soon. In the meantime, let me know in the comment any helpful strategies you have for dictation. I’ll see you next time.

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