Interval recognition explained

Interval recognition, the ability to name and reproduce musical intervals, is an important part of ear training, music transcription, musical intonation and sight-reading.

Reference songs

Some music teachers teach their students relative pitch by having them associate each possible interval with the first interval of a popular song.^[1] Such songs are known as "reference songs".^[2] However, others have shown that such familiar-melody associations are quite limited in scope, applicable only to the specific scale-degrees found in each melody.^[3]

Here are some examples for each interval:

0/unison	"America the Beautiful" (on "Oh beautiful")'^[4] "God Save the King"/"My Country, 'Tis of Thee" "Hava Nagila"^[5] "Jingle Bells"^[6] "La Marseillaise"^[7] "One Note Samba"^[8] "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" (on "twin-kle")
Steps/interval	Ascending		Descending
1/minor second	Theme of the One Ring from The Lord of the Rings Theme from Jaws^[9] "Nice Work If You Can Get It" "Isn't She Lovely" Ode to Joy (2nd and 3rd notes)^[10]	CC	"Stella by Starlight" "Joy to the World"^[11] "Für Elise"^[12] Theme from Jurassic Park Wedding March (Mendelssohn)	CB
2/major second	"Frère Jacques"^[13] "Silent Night"^[14] "Never Gonna Give You Up"^[15] "Strangers in the Night" "Do-Re-Mi"	CD	valign=top	"Mary Had a Little Lamb" "Three Blind Mice"'^[16] "Satin Doll" "The First Noel"^[17]	CB
3/minor third	"A Cruel Angel's Thesis" (theme from Neon Genesis Evangelion) "Axel F" (the Beverly Hills Cop theme song) "Greensleeves"^[18] "Smoke on the Water" "O Canada"^[19] "The Impossible Dream" "So Long, Farewell" "Oh where, oh where has my little dog gone" "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath "Bad" "Brahms's Lullaby" "Hallelujah"	CE	valign=top	"Hey Jude" "The Star-Spangled Banner" "Frosty the Snowman" "This Old Man"^[20] "Can We Fix It?" from Bob the Builder	CA
4/major third		"When the Saints Go Marching In" "Spring" from Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" "Kumbaya" "And did those feet in ancient time" "O mio babbino caro"	CE	"Summertime" "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" "Goodnight, Ladies" Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 (first movement)	CA
	"Auld Lang Syne" "O Tannenbaum/Oh Christmas Tree" Here Comes the Bride "Amazing Grace"	CF	valign=top	Eine kleine Nachtmusik "O Come, All Ye Faithful" Theme from Dynasty	CG
6/tritone	valign=top	"Maria" from West Side Story "The Simpsons Theme"	CF	"YYZ" "Black Sabbath" "Even Flow"	CF
7/perfect fifth	Also sprach Zarathustra "Can't Help Falling in Love" (on Wise Men) "My Favorite Things" "Scarborough Fair" Theme from Star Wars "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" (from 1st to 2nd "twinkle") "Yeah!"	CG	valign=top	Back to the Future Theme "Don't You (Forget About Me)" chorus^[21] The Flintstones Theme "Seven Steps to Heaven" "What Do You Do With A Drunken Sailor?"	CF
8/minor sixth	"Go Down Moses" on "When Is[-rael]" Theme of "The Entertainer" (big interval after pick-up) "Close Every Door" "Nothing Compares 2 U"	CA	valign=top	"You're Everything" from Light as a Feather "Where Do I Begin?" from the film Love Story	CE
9/major sixth	"For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" "Jingle Bells" (on " through the snow") "Leia's Theme" (from Star Wars) "Libiamo ne' lieti calici", brindisi from Verdi's 1853 opera La traviata^[22] ^[23] "My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean" "My Way" NBC Theme Song	CA	valign=top	"Man in the Mirror" (chorus) "The Music of the Night" "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" "Over There" "Sweet Caroline"^[24]	CE
10/minor seventh	Theme from Star Trek "Somewhere" from West Side Story "The Winner Takes It All"	CB	valign=top	"Watermelon Man" "An American in Paris" "Lady Jane" (refrain)	CD
11/major seventh	"Take On Me" Theme from Fantasy Island	CB	"I Love You" “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Nat King Cole)” "Maybe"	CC
12/octave	"Over the Rainbow" "Blue Bossa" "The Christmas Song" "Starman" "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" "When You Wish Upon a Star"	CC	valign=top	"Willow Weep for Me"	CC

In addition, there are various solmization systems (including solfeggio, sargam, and numerical sight-singing) that assign specific syllables to different notes of the scale. Among other things, this makes it easier to hear how intervals sound in different contexts, such as starting on different notes of the same scale.

Notes and References

1. Book: Mayfield, Connie E.. 2012. [{{Google books|id=0RYKAAAAQBAJ|plain-url=yes}} Theory Essentials, Volume I: An Integrated Approach to Harmony, Ear Training, and Keyboard Skills]. 2nd. Schirmer. New York. 9781133713807. 50–51.
2. Web site: Sutton. Christopher. The Ultimate Guide to Interval Ear Training. Easy Ear Training. 24 June 2016.
3. Rogers, Michael (1983): "Beyond Intervals: The Teaching of Tonal Hearing", Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, (6):18-34
4. Web site: America the Beautiful. Cantorion. Samuel A. Ward.
5. Web site: Hava Nagila. The Jews of Cuba. Traditional.
6. Web site: Jingle Bells. Cantorion. James Lord Pierpont. James Lord Pierpont.
7. Web site: La Marseillaise. mfiles. Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle.
8. Web site: One Note Samba. MuseScore. Antônio Carlos Jobim.
9. Web site: Songs to learn musical intervals. EarMaster. EarMaster ApS. 14 November 2016.
10. Web site: Use Songs You Know to Learn Your Musical Intervals. Musical scales and chords. 14 November 2016.
11. Web site: Joy to the World. IMSLP. Lowell Mason. Lowell Mason.
12. Web site: Für Elise. IMSLP. Ludwig van Beethoven. Ludwig van Beethoven.
13. Web site: Frère Jacques. traditional-songs.com. Traditional. Traditional.
14. Web site: Silent Night. Wikifonia. Franz Xaver Gruber. Franz Xaver Gruber. 2014-08-03. https://web.archive.org/web/20130602113335/http://www.wikifonia.org/node/202. 2013-06-02. dead.
15. Web site: Never Gonna Give You Up. YouTube. Rick Astley. Rick Astley.
16. Book: Complete Version of ye Three Blind Mice. Project Gutenberg. John W. Ivimey.
17. Web site: The First Nowell. The Hymns and Carols of Christmas.
18. Web site: Greensleeves. TradTunes.com. 2014-08-03. 2012-06-14. https://web.archive.org/web/20120614010439/http://tradtune.com/128275/Greensleeves.htm. dead.
19. Web site: National Anthem: O Canada. 6 October 2015. Government of Canada.
20. Web site: Free Sheet Music: 'This Old Man' (Primer Level). Piano Pronto. 2014-08-03. https://web.archive.org/web/20140808130019/http://pianopronto.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2012_THIS_OLD_MAN.pdf. 2014-08-08. dead.
21. Web site: Don't You (Forget About Me). 10 November 2023. Hal Leonard. noteflight.com.
22. Web site: Awesome Music / Giuseppe Verdi. tvtropes.org. 2023-10-30.
23. Book: https://dlib.indiana.edu/variations/scores/bhr7293/large/sco10018.html. 3. Libiamo ne' lieti calici. 18. La traviata. Giuseppe Verdi. Francesco Maria Piave. Natalie MacFarren. piano reduction by Berthold Tours. G. Schirmer. New York. 1899.
24. Web site: Diamond. Neil. 1969. Sweet Caroline Sheet Music. 31 March 2023. muhlsdk12.org.