ROYALSTAR LEARNING / FREE PRACTICE TOOL

Record what changed in your sketch.

Use this notebook alongside my RoyalStar Sketch Process to keep track of what you hear as you revise your own music. — Justin M. King

Start with four measures of your own music on paper or in your notation program. Keep a copy of each version so you can play them again. Use the fields below to note the measure you changed and what you heard afterward. This notebook does not create or play scores, and your entries are not sent to RoyalStar. Saving on this device is optional and off by default; leave out identifiable student or client details on shared devices.

STAGE 01 / MELODY

Begin with the melody.

Sing or play the melody on its own. Mark the moment that draws your attention, then listen through the end. Does the phrase arrive where you expected it to?

Sketch title

Where the melody draws your ear

One melodic change to compare

How the ending sounds now

Before adding the bass

Sing or play both versions at the same tempo. Choose the ending that works for this phrase. If the revision weakens a gesture you wanted to keep, return to the original or try a smaller change.

STAGE 02 / BASS

Compare two bass lines.

Use the same melody for both bass versions. Begin with a line you can follow easily, then change its movement at one point. Listen to whether that change carries the melody toward its ending or beyond it.

What the bass needs to do here

Bass version A

Bass version B

Which bass version you kept, and why

Listen through the boundary

Keep the tempo and playback balance the same for A and B. Let the ending sound before choosing. If you have a following phrase, include its entrance: a bass line that works at the close may leave too little room for what comes next.

STAGE 03 / HARMONY

Hear what the inner voices add.

Play the melody with the bass you kept. Find a place where you want the harmony to do more, then try inner voices there. Listen again without them before deciding whether the addition helps.

What you want the harmony to change

Voicing or entrance to compare

What you heard in each version

Inner voices you kept or revised

Check the whole phrase

Play the voicing you kept over the full melody and bass. A chord may sound right on its own but interrupt a line in context. Keep the fuller sound if it gives the passage something it needs and the melody still comes through.

REVIEW / NEXT DECISION

Decide what to try with players.

Try the sketch in the registers of the instruments that will play it. A line that is clear in playback may be covered in the ensemble. Use your next question to identify a passage you need to hear from players.

What to listen for next

Save on this device

Your entries are not sent to RoyalStar.

Preview text for copying

Device saving uses your browser’s local storage only after you opt in. Use Copy to carry your notes into a document or your music workflow; do not use shared devices to store confidential material.

Keep learning.

Return to The RoyalStar Sketch Process or read Every Note Has a Cost for a closer look at what an added part asks of the music and the people playing it.

Beyond the Score: The Process The Question That Changed the Way I Listen Instrument Reference Desk RoyalStar Resource Library