Although much of contemporary music appears to avoid ordered groupings of notes, it is the purpose of this book to bridge the gap between the more obvious scale patterns of 19th century music and the more complex and irregular groupings found in much of our present day music by presenting instrumental study materials of an intermediate complexity. The patterns employed here usually consist of from three or four to eight notes. These melodic formations are frequently contrary to the established rhythmic pattern. It is the writer's belief that specific comprehension and recognition of these various melodic formations will aid the student to read and execute this study material with greater speed and accuracy. -the composer