Recall a melody you know by heart; it could be a folk song learned in school, a hymn from church, a lullaby sung to you as a child, or a favorite pop song. What are the range, contour, and movement of the melody? How many phrases does the song contain? Where are they? (The words can help define the structure.)

In 200-500 words, you should complete the above instructions to better familiarize yourself with phrasing. To help you conceptualize the idea of melody, include a dotted map of the melody as below (each dot is a new note-- does the next note/dot sound higher or lower than the note/dot prior?). This melody graph can be tricky for some who are not familiar with listening to what notes are doing (rising or falling, going up or down). Try the graphing exercise on a few different familiar melodies to practice.