Ahh! I need a music teacher quick! Or do I?

I'm not making any sense out of this really. My musical knowledge is extremely limited and those notes etc are just nonsense to me.

Do i need musical knowledge for this or am i missing something else obvious?

Headphones are a big help to distinguish between the different 'instruments'.

But yes, some musical knowledge is necessary in order to match the pitches and rhythm of each missing bar to the musical notation in the candidate bars.

To narrow it down a bit, I used some visual clues....

After that, follow what Batgirl said and try and hear the other two patterns of notes. There'll be fewer choices to play around with.

Marsh-Ayre Mob (MAM) rule... OK! Always take your wrappers off before nibbling!

With my very limited music ability, I have deduced that

Ok, back to the drawing board then...

Any hints? My ears aren't that finely tuned.

Ok, let's look at each instrument in turn.

Try highest one first.  Listen to the pattern of the notes, ignoring the rhythm, just whether the notes are going up or down.  Which letters do you think they correspond to?

Consumate Tea Drinker - Earl Grey with a slice of lemon if you're making one!

I couldn't "do" this one, either, Moscow. I could hear most of the bass distinctly, but could only distinguish the treble and alto as separate, distinct instruments in a couple of the bars.  I think it's hard for someone who can hear the differences to understand that not everyone can.

One fun thing I like to do at gatherings is play a 17khz tone on my PDA.  It annoys the kids present, who can't figure out where it's coming from and the adults are wondering what the kids are talking about as they can't hear it, at all.

I think I still have the answer that Sarah B fed me for this one, at home and will get it to you, later, if nobody else has.

I prefer my biscuits with gravy

If you're online this evening (from 6pm UK time) I'll work through this with you on here 

Consumate Tea Drinker - Earl Grey with a slice of lemon if you're making one!

Hey Moscow, hope you're online looking at this now.

Rogi mentioned that it can be hard to distinguish the instruments, so the top one is the one that sounds flutey, the middle one is the tinny one and the bottom one is the bass.

It might help you to get a feeling for how long the bars are by listening to the full piece as well.  There are 4 beats in a bar.

Where you see the notes with the blob and a stick that counts for one beat.  The ones with a blob, a stick and a tail coming off the stick or joined onto another, that's half a beat long.  The funny small shape in the middle of the stave (the lines) is a rest.  The only type of rest in any of them is one which lasts for half a beat.  That info may or may not help you.

The flutey instrument is starting off carrying the tune, so listen to the tune in the full piece and try and get a feeling for it.  Follow the music at bars 35-37 to get a feeling of how high/low those notes are to give you an idea of roughly how high/low the missing bar is.

Email me at batgirl.slade[SPLAT]gmail[DOT]com if you want to talk through this less publically, otherwise I'm happy to carry on helping on here.

Have a listen again and see if you can work out number 2 (bar 39 for the flutety sounding instrument)

Consumate Tea Drinker - Earl Grey with a slice of lemon if you're making one!

Ok, is the flutey thing playing C then D in bars 38 to 39?

The tune I'm hearing is the same in the first 2 bars except at the third note in the first bar it goes down then up, but the next bar goes up then down? Maybe H? Then no.4 should be C?

Well that's how the whole thing starts and ends. Is the bar 38 section a different tune?

Well I really struggle to know when bars are moving into the next one, but it seems to be going down then up from the start, so bar 38 is going generally up? It would be hard enough for me with one instrument, let alone the other 2 getting in the way.

Do you know I used to sit next to one of the guys from groove armada at school, and he used to copy me on the recorder, because i could "read" music then. How times have changed!

Sorry Batgirl - had to go to bed last night as it's a different timezone here! Have listened to the tune again and again and I'm convinced that I have some sort of rare musical deficiency syndrome.

If 38 is A, then surely 39 is E or F, depending on the pitch? Sort of..... 

So you solved it?

Consumate Tea Drinker - Earl Grey with a slice of lemon if you're making one!