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Junior Cycle Music: Melodic & rhythmic dictation

How often Melodic & rhythmic dictation comes up on the Music papers, every year it was asked, and questions to try.

CL Asked on 5 of the last 5 Common Level papers, most recently in 2026. banker

Melodic & rhythmic dictation, Common Level(9 marks)

Quick ones on Melodic & rhythmic dictation.

(a)A melody leaps from doh up to soh. What interval is that?
  1. A fourth
  2. A fifth
  3. A third
(b)For a single note on or above the middle line of a stave, the stem usually goes…
  1. Down, on the right side
  2. Up, on the right side
  3. Down, on the left side
(c)When writing six quavers in one bar of 6/8, how should they be beamed?
  1. In two groups of three
  2. As six separate quavers
  3. In three groups of two
Show the answers

(a) A fifth

(b) Down, on the left side

(c) In two groups of three

Your turn: Common Level questions on Melodic & rhythmic dictation.

Common Level

Asked on 5 of the last 5 Common Level papers, most recently in 2026. banker

Every paper, year by year

YearWhere it came up
2026Q3a
2025Q2d, Q3c
2024Q2e
2023Q2a, Q4a
2022Q5b

Links open the State Examinations Commission’s paper for that year.

More Melodic & rhythmic dictation questions

Melodic & rhythmic dictation, 3 marks

You hear four even notes that together last exactly one crotchet beat. What are they?

  1. Four quavers
  2. Four crotchets
  3. Four semiquavers
Show the answer

Four semiquavers

One crotchet = two quavers = four semiquavers. Semiquavers are written with two beams (or two flags). Four quavers would take two whole beats.

Melodic & rhythmic dictation, 3 marks

In C major, a melody is sung to me, ray, doh. Which notes are these?

  1. E, F, G
  2. E, D, C
  3. C, D, E
Show the answer

E, D, C

In C major doh = C, ray = D, me = E. So me-ray-doh is E-D-C, a falling pattern that often ends a phrase, as in Three Blind Mice.

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