Often people struggle to recognise intervals between notes.
Everyone knows that ‘Twinkle, twinkle, light star’ opens with a pair of unisons followed by a leap of a perfect 5th, but what about other intervals?
Here are the songs I have used to help me recognise intervals over the years.
- Unison – the first two notes of ‘Twinkle, twinkle‘ or the first two notes of ‘God Save the Queen‘
- Minor 2nd – the repeated two pitches at the opening of Beethoven’s ‘Für Elise‘ or the first change of pitch in his ‘Ode to Joy‘. Also, the repeated pair of notes that are the theme from ‘Jaws‘
- Major 2nd – the first two notes of a major or minor scale or the first two notes of the chorus of ‘Strangers in the Night‘ or ‘Happy Birthday‘
- Minor 3rd – the first two pitches of ‘Greensleeves‘
- Major 3rd – the first two pitches of ‘Once in Royal‘ or ‘When the Saints Go Marching In‘
- Perfect 4th – the first two pitches of ‘Away in a Manger‘ or ‘Here Comes the Bride‘
- Augmented 4th/Diminished 5th (also called a tritone – the first two pitches of the chorus of ‘Maria‘ from ‘West Side Story’
- Perfect 5th – as well as the first change of pitch in ‘Twinkle, twinkle’ it’s also the first two pitches of the main theme from both ‘Star Wars‘ and ‘Superman‘
- Minor 6th – the two falling pitches at the beginning of the theme from ‘Love Story‘
- Major 6th – the opening two pitches of ‘My Bonnie lies over the ocean‘
- Minor 7th – the first two pitches of ‘Somewhere (There’s a Place for Us‘ from ‘West Side Story’
- Major 7th – the start of the chorus of A-ha’s ‘Take on Me‘
- Perfect Octave – the opening two notes of the chorus of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow‘
This version of Nat King Cole‘s The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) is very clever and helpful to learn intervals (it also shows what an amazing piece of songwriting it is):
And here’s the song being sung:
Robert Steadman: composer 