Interval ear training

The song cues

Every interval sounds like the start of a song most people know. When you're not sure, sing the song in your head and compare.

• Minor secondJaws, the shark's two notes
• Major secondHappy Birthday, “hap-py BIRTH-day”
• Minor thirdSmoke on the Water, the riff's first two notes
• Major thirdWhen the Saints Go Marching In, “Oh when”
• FourthHere Comes the Bride, “Here comes”
• TritoneThe Simpsons theme, “The Simp-”
• FifthTwinkle Twinkle Little Star, “twin-kle, TWIN-kle”
• Minor sixthThe Entertainer, the leap in the opening
• Major sixthMy Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean, “My Bon-”
• Minor seventhStar Trek, the original theme's first two notes
• Major seventhTake On Me, the chorus's “take on”
• OctaveSomewhere Over the Rainbow, “Some-where”

Once you know all twelve going up, they come back going down, each with its own song:

• Minor second downFür Elise, the first two notes
• Major second downYesterday (the Beatles), “Yes-ter-”
• Minor third downHey Jude, “Hey Jude”
• Major third downBeethoven's Fifth, “da-da-da-DUM”
• Fourth downMozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik, the first two notes
• Tritone downBlue Seven, Sonny Rollins's opening
• Fifth downThe Flintstones, “Flint-stones”
• Minor sixth downLove Story, the theme's opening leap
• Major sixth downNobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen, “No-bo-”
• Minor seventh downWatermelon Man, the riff's first leap
• Major seventh downI Love You (Cole Porter), “I love”
• Octave downWillow Weep for Me, “Wil-low”

Why intervals

Almost nobody can name a single note out of nowhere; that's perfect pitch, and it's rare. What musicians use is relative pitch: hearing how far one note is from the next. It's what lets you play a tune by ear, sing a harmony or find a melody on a keyboard, and unlike perfect pitch, it grows with practice. Ten intervals a day for a couple of weeks makes a real difference.

How it works

Each round is ten intervals from the ones you know, from a different starting note each time so you learn the gap, not the notes. Get eight of ten and the next interval joins, from the easy, open ones (octave, fifth, third) to the close and strange ones (the minor second, the tritone); after the twelve going up, the same twelve come going down. Your level and your streak stay in this browser on this phone; nothing is sent anywhere. The tones come from your browser, so nothing is downloaded either.

Then make something of it

The intervals you just named make a tune. Brumm plays it as an instrument inside a club track, or hum your own line in. No account, no upload.

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