For your Royal Conservatory of Toronto exams, you will have to do ear test, and melody playback is one of them. This is how to video do melody playbacks on the violin for your exam.
To start off with, try to familiarise yourself with the rules of the exam.
For example for Grade 1, it’s only ever going to be the first three notes of the scale (in D major, D, E, F#, in A major, A, B, C#), and for Grade 2, it’s only ever going to be the first five notes of the scale (in D major, D, E, F#, G, A, in A major, A, B, C#, D, E). So if you know that, you already know that that you only have to use certain fingers on a specific string.
Look in the syllabus and you will find the rules for each level.
The examiner will always tell you what key they will be in, and they will always play the chord first. So listen carefully, be prepared for which string you’re on and which fingers you’ll be using, and listen for the 1st note of the melody as compared to the chord.
They will always play the melody twice, and it’s a good idea before you even try to practise the melody playbacks, to just practise trying to get the first note of the melody first. Then move on to figuring out how to play the rest of the melody.
To find the first note, listen to the bottom note of the chord they play, and compare the 1st note to that. Is it the same pitch? Is it higher? If so, how much higher? Does it jump? Or is it the note right next to it?Watch this video about identifying intervals if you are having trouble.
The rest of the melody can help you figure out whether you have the first note right as well. If you know that you are using D, E, F#, and the melody starts on a note, then goes up, you know it cannot start on F#, because we are not using any notes above an F#. Similarly, if the melody starts and then goes down, it cannot be a D, because we’re not going any lower than a D.
If you’ve watched the interval video or if you’ve done intervals before, you can use what you know of intervals to figure out the fingering. So if you’re already on a C#, and it goes down a major 3rd, then skip a finger and play a 0, and that will be an A. There can only ever be so many fingering combinations if you are playing in any interval, for example
a 3rd has to be either: 0-2 (or 4-2), 1-3, 2-4 (or 2-0) or 3-1
a 4th has to be either: 0-3 (or 4-3), 1-4 (or 1-0), 2-1, or 3-2
a 5th is always the same finger but on the next string either way, because your strings are in 5ths
a 6th is always the next string, one finger up or down, with a minor 6th fingers closed together, and a major 6th fingers with a (whole tone sized) gap
If you think of everything as being one interval after another, then playing back the melody gets much easier.
Just like anything else, you have to practise a lot to make it second nature.
Practise playing intervals on your violin so you familiarise yourself if the way they sound and the fingering of each, and then practise playing melodies by picking a song you know very well, and figuring out the notes, for example happy birthday, jingle bells. In the beginning, it may help to write each note down as you figure it out.
For more detail and to see me walk you through examples, watch the video above.
Any questions? Leave me a comment below.