# Your music design desk · ten short starts

You can make sound, keep sound at desk level, or work silently with the exact timed score. Point, arrange raised strips, use large print, type or dictate to a neutral scribe. Choose a [route](DAILY-CHOICES.md) that lets you decide the **music**, not one that hides the decision. No one needs to sing alone, own an instrument, record a voice or reveal a personal story. Optional [WAV examples](audio/ASSET-INDEX.md) are short pure tones, not recordings of existing music. Pause, repeat or reduce volume as you need.

**Read the beat grid:** each slim cell is half a beat. Numbered cells are beats 1–4; `&` is the halfway point. `e` covers one slim cell; `q` covers two; `h` covers four. A `rest` takes time but makes no note. A note with `p` is quieter; `mf` is moderately strong. Letters and numbers such as C4 or G4 name pitches. A box across two cells begins once and continues for one full beat. In File F, rows sound together rather than one after the other. [Every printed label and an exact tactile build](print/TEXT-ALTERNATIVES.md) is available.

| Day | Open this | Your evidence to keep |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | [A](print/file-a.svg) | Four starts on beats 1–4 and one reason the timing is regular. |
| 2 | [A](print/file-a.svg) and [C](print/file-c.svg) | Two contour arrows and two exact pitch changes. |
| 3 | [B](print/file-b.svg) | Mark the silent beat and half-beat pair; test a different rest place. |
| 4 | [D](print/file-d.svg) | Count ½+½+1+2; compare a held ending with two new starts. |
| 5 | [fresh Check A](STUDENT-CHECKS.md#day-5-check-a--fresh-gap-and-lift-file-g) | Your first response to new G, before feedback. |
| 6 | [E](print/file-e.svg) | Two dynamic plans on unchanged pitch/timing, with an evidence sentence. |
| 7 | [F](print/file-f.svg) | Two aligned voices and a with/without-lower comparison. |
| 8 | [A](print/file-a.svg) and [C](print/file-c.svg) | Two-bar A→A or A→C order with pitch evidence. |
| 9 | [A–F cards](SCORE-CARDS.md) | Two-bar draft; identify retained and changed features. |
| 10 | [fresh Check B](STUDENT-CHECKS.md#day-10-check-b--fresh-two-bar-design-file-h) | Your first response to new H, before feedback. |

Use this claim frame when it helps: “At bar __ beat __, the score uses ___. I changed/kept ___. A listener or reader **might** notice ___ because ___. The score alone cannot show ___.” The words “might” and “because” keep a response honest. A different interpretation can work when you point to evidence. These ten starts do not determine your school result.