A CPU 10 operates in response to an instruction for starting reproduction of a melody to read out tone color data and tempo data included in selected musical composition data from a RAM 11 or a ROM 12, and transfer the readout data to a musical tone-generating section 15. The CPU 10 then reads out starting position information written in a performance starting point register 36, reads out note data included in the musical composition data from a position indicated by the starting position information from the RAM 11 or the ROM 12, and transfers the readout note data to the musical tone-generating section 15. The musical tone-generating section 15 generates a melody from the transferred note data based on the transferred tone color data and tempo data. As a result, the melody can be listened to from an arbitrary starting position.