Intervals in famous openings

"My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" opens with a jump of nine half steps, a major sixth, on "My Bon-".

A song for every interval

Recognising intervals by ear is easier if you link each one to a melody you already know. When you hear two notes, you ask yourself which song they sound like. Music schools have used this trick for generations, and printed charts of reference songs are common. The tunes below are all traditional or long out of copyright, so you can sing and play them freely. Pick the ones you know best; a reference song only works if it plays in your head without effort.

Listening for the jump

The interval that matters is the first change of pitch. "Twinkle, Twinkle" starts with two Cs, a unison, and the fifth comes on the jump to G. Brahms' Lullaby repeats E before rising to G. "Frère Jacques" moves straight away from C to D, a major second. In "My Bonnie", the first word is a low G and "Bon-" leaps up to E, nine half steps. Sing slowly and stop on the second note of the jump: that pair of pitches is your reference.

Going down

Descending intervals need their own songs, because the same interval sounds different falling. The spiritual "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" opens with a falling major third. "Frère Jacques" also helps: its third bar climbs E, F, G and later phrases fall back. Many hymns and carols contain falling fifths and fourths at cadences. Interval charts from music schools, such as the one from Miami Dade College's music lab, list separate songs for rising and falling forms of each interval.

Reference songs have limits. Eventually you want to hear a fifth as a fifth directly, without humming "Twinkle" first, and the way to get there is lots of short, random practice. Teachers describe songs as a bridge: useful for the first weeks, then gradually not needed. The keyboard exercises below let you play two openings, then the ear exercise mixes the intervals from the table.

Many interval charts online use film themes and recent pop songs. Those melodies may still be protected by copyright, so this course uses traditional songs and music by composers who died long ago. They have another advantage: they are the tunes most people learn as children, in many countries, so the reference is already in your head.