Aurally identify a melodic phrase heard from several notated options, and recognise a two-bar phrase missing from a given melody.

What this dot point is asking

Reading the options as shapes

Before the excerpt plays, study the printed options. Do not read note by note; read the shape. Note where each option rises and falls, where it leaps and where it steps, and how each one ends. Often the options differ in only one or two places, such as a leap up versus a step up, or a different final note. Find those differences first, because that is exactly what your ear must judge when the music plays.

Comparing sound with notation

When the excerpt plays, track the contour against your shortlisted options. Eliminate any option whose direction does not match what you hear. Then zoom in on the spots where the remaining options differ: did the line leap or step there, did it go up or down, did it land on the tonic or somewhere else? The rhythm is a second discriminator, since two options with the same pitches may differ in note lengths. Sing the played phrase quietly to yourself between hearings to hold it in memory.

Identifying a missing phrase

In the missing-phrase task, the melody is given with a gap, usually two bars. The trick is that the surrounding music constrains what fits. Look at how the phrase before the gap ends and how the music after the gap resumes. The missing phrase must connect them smoothly and usually balances the opening as a question and answer or completes a sequence. When the full melody is played, hold the gap in mind and capture just those two bars, then match them to the options or notate them.

Using intervals, key and cadence

Three tools sharpen your discrimination. Intervals: if you can hear that the line leaps a fourth rather than a third, you can rule options in or out. Key: sing the tonic and judge each note against it, so you know whether a phrase ends on the tonic (closed) or elsewhere (open). Cadence feel: a phrase that sounds finished implies a perfect or plagal cadence, while one that hangs implies a half cadence, and this often distinguishes the correct ending.

Training melodic memory

Melodic identification rests on short-term melodic memory and a sense of relative pitch. Build both by singing back phrases after one hearing, by naming intervals as you hear them, and by always relating notes to the tonic. Practise with sets of near-identical phrases so your ear learns to detect tiny differences. Over time you will hold a two-bar phrase in mind accurately enough to match it confidently.

Strategy across the three hearings

TASC aural items are played a fixed number of times, usually three, so plan how you use each hearing. On the first hearing, lock in the overall contour and the metre, and confirm which printed options still match. On the second, zoom in on the deciding moment you marked before the music started, judging the interval or the final note directly. Use the third hearing to confirm, not to start again from scratch. Singing the phrase quietly to yourself in the gaps keeps it in short-term memory so the next hearing checks a hypothesis rather than rebuilds the melody from nothing. Candidates who treat every hearing as a fresh listen run out of attention before they reach the part that actually decides the answer.