Hearing Intervals
Every interval is the first two notes of a song you already know. Borrow those songs, and your ear will name distances before your eyes can count them.
Builds on: 3.1 Intervals: Naming the Distance
Borrow a melody
You cannot count semitones by ear, but you already carry a library of intervals: the openings of songs. The first two notes of Twinkle Twinkle are a perfect fifth; Here Comes the Bride starts with a perfect fourth; the shark theme from Jaws is a minor second. Attach one tune to each interval and hearing becomes recognising — “that is the Star Wars leap” is a faster thought than “seven semitones”.
| Interval | Semitones | Reference song (ascending) |
|---|---|---|
| m2 Minor second | 1 | Jaws — the shark's two notes |
| M2 Major second | 2 | Happy Birthday (hap-py) |
| m3 Minor third | 3 | Greensleeves (a-las) |
| M3 Major third | 4 | Oh When the Saints (oh when) |
| P4 Perfect fourth | 5 | Here Comes the Bride (here comes) |
| TT Tritone | 6 | The Simpsons (the Simp-) |
| P5 Perfect fifth | 7 | Star Wars main theme (Star Wars) |
| m6 Minor sixth | 8 | The Entertainer (first two notes of the melody) |
| M6 Major sixth | 9 | My Bonnie (my Bon-) |
| m7 Minor seventh | 10 | Somewhere (West Side Story) — there's a |
| M7 Major seventh | 11 | Take On Me (chorus: take on) |
| P8 Perfect octave | 12 | Somewhere Over the Rainbow (some-where) |
Strategies beyond songs
Songs are the scaffolding; three habits take over once it comes down. Sing the scale. Hear the lower note as “do”, sing up the major scale until you reach the upper note, and count: landing on “sol” means a fifth, on “la” a sixth. Anchor on the fifth and the octave. They are the two most stable sounds; judge everything else as “a little more than a fifth” (minor sixth) or “just short of the octave” (major seventh). Feel the size. Seconds are steps, thirds are small leaps, sixths and sevenths are wide — the ear gets the ballpark first, then the songs decide between neighbours.
Melodic and harmonic
Intervals come one note after the other (melodic) or both at once (harmonic). Melodic intervals are easier at first: the song trick works directly. Harmonic ones are what chords are made of, and they have their own colours: a major third sounds bright and full, a minor third warm and dark, a perfect fifth hollow and open, a tritone buzzing, a major seventh dreamy and sharp. Train both — switch the lab between them.
A falling interval is a different sound from a rising one, and it has its own songs: a falling minor third is the “cuckoo”; a falling perfect fifth opens Flintstones; a falling major sixth is Nobody Knows the Trouble. The lab plays ascending intervals; hear a falling one as its ascending inversion from the lower note and you have it too.
Ear training is a motor skill like typing: five minutes a day beats an hour on Sunday. Every interval you miss here goes into the review deck and comes back on the spaced schedule, so the ones that trouble you are the ones you will hear most.
The trainer plays an interval and offers four names. Start with the easy set — thirds, fifths and octaves — and widen to all twelve when you score above 80%.
🎼 Lab — Interval Ear Trainer
Press ▶ New interval; two notes play (one after the other, or together). Pick the interval you heard from four options. Each reveal shows the reference song and the two notes on the piano; misses go to the review deck.
- Start with the easy set and melodic playback. Aim for ten in a row.
- Switch to harmonic playback: the same intervals as chords — a different kind of listening.
- Then all twelve. Use the songs, then try to stop needing them.
Press ▶ New interval. A miss sends that interval to the review deck.