Transcribe Piano Music
Transcription is the process of writing down the music you hear. It can be a tricky and time consuming task, especially when working with complex audio or instruments that don’t produce a clear set of notes (like horns and percussion). Musicians spend a lot of practice transcribe music by ear so they can learn new songs more quickly and accurately. This is also useful for practicing improvisations over chord changes, which aren’t often included in sheet music.
There are many different methods for transcription, which all differ slightly but can be equally as effective. The best way to start is by listening to the song through a few times and making notes in your head as to what parts are what. This is particularly useful for determining the rhythm of the piece. You can then use this information to determine the tempo of the piece and how fast you will need to play it if you want to replicate it exactly.
Another good tip for transcribing is to divide the song into sections such as the intro, verse, chorus and bridge. This will make it easier to transcribe more complex pieces because you can work on one section at a time. It will also help you to identify any sections that you need to listen to again as they may not be clear the first time round.
How to Transcribe Piano Music in English
When listening to the song it’s important to listen closely to the melody, bass and any other prominent single note instruments (like voice). It is usually the easiest to transcribe the lead instrument because these can be heard more clearly. However, it can be difficult to distinguish the different pitches of chords when they are being played, so you will need to listen very carefully and try to imagine which notes you think might be present in the chord.
Once you have figured out the bass part you can then start to build up the chords using your intuition. If you can guess what type of chord it is then it’s much easier to transcribe it as there are plenty of rules that you can apply to help you figure out the structure of a particular type of chord.
For example, if you hear a bass note and top note then you can probably assume it’s a major chord. Alternatively, if you hear a string of notes that sound like they could be eighth notes or triplet sixteenths then it’s likely a diminished chord.
It’s also a good idea to take note of any dynamics or articulations in the song. This is because it’s these aspects of the performance that give the music its personality and make it unique. This can also be helpful when playing the music back to yourself as you will be able to replicate these aspects of the performance, ensuring that your transcription is faithful to the original audio. It’s important to remember that transcribing is a skill that takes time to develop, but it’s also an extremely useful skill to have. So don’t be afraid to work on it and keep practicing!
