Songs to help you learn note intervals

By  Jan 7, 2006

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Do you struggle to identify the interval between two notes?

A trick I use is to think of a melodies than contain the interval, and are easy to remember.

Check out our video to see and hear some examples for each interval or scroll down to see the text, MIDI files and keyboard diagrams.

Below are a few suggestions for the main major, minor and perfect intervals.

Major 2nd

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Major 2nd interval

Ascending

Listen [MIDI file]: Major 2nd Ascending

  • Doe A Deer (Sound of Music): First two notes of the chorus
  • EastEnders (UK Soap Opera): Any two consecutive notes from the first three
  • Frere Jacques: First two notes or second and third notes
  • Happy Birthday: Second and third notes

Descending

Listen [MIDI file]: Major 2nd Descending

  • Blow the Wind Southerly: First two notes
  • Deck the Halls: First two notes (learn to play Deck the Halls)
  • Mary Had A Little Lamb: First two notes
  • The First Noel: First two notes
  • Three Blind Mice: First two notes or second and third notes
  • Whistle While You Work: First two notes
  • Yesterday (The Beatles): First two notes

Minor 3rd

Minor 3rd interval

Ascending

Listen [MIDI file]: Minor 3rd Ascending

  • “A Time for Us” Romeo & Juliet (main theme): First two notes
  • Beverley Hills Cop: First two notes
  • Greensleeves: First two notes
  • Lullaby (Brahms): Second and third notes
  • The Impossible Dream: “To Dream” notes

Descending

Listen [MIDI file]: Minor 3rd Descending

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Major 3rd

Major 3rd interval

Ascending

Listen [MIDI file]: Major 3rd Ascending

  • Morning Has Broken: First two notes
  • Kum Ba Ya (Chorus): First two notes
  • When the Saints Go Marching In: First two notes (“Oh when…”)
  • While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night (Carol): First two notes

Descending

Listen [MIDI file]: Major 3rd Descending

  • Beethoven’s Fifth: Third and fourth notes of main melody
  • Summertime: First two notes
  • Swing Low Sweet Chariot: First two notes

Perfect 4th

Perfect 4th interval

Ascending

Listen [MIDI file]: Perfect 4th Ascending

Descending

Listen [MIDI file]: Perfect 4th Descending

Continued below...

  • Born Free: First two notes
  • Come on Eileen: (Dexy’s Midnight Runners) First two notes of chorus (“Come On”)
  • O Come All Ye Faithful: Second and third notes (learn to play O Come All Ye Faithful)

Perfect 5th

Perfect 5th interval

Ascending

Listen [MIDI file]: Perfect 5th Ascending

  • 2001 A Space Odyssey (Theme): First two notes of main melody
  • Lavender’s Blue: First two notes
  • O Lord and Father of Mankind (Hymn): First two notes
  • Star Wars: First two notes
  • Twinkle Twinkle Little Star: Second and third notes

Descending

Listen [MIDI file]: Perfect 5th Descending

Minor 6th

Minor 6th interval

Ascending

Listen [MIDI file]: Minor 6th Ascending

  • The Entertainer: Third and fourth notes
  • Theme from ‘Love Story’: Third and fourth notes (first two notes are the same interval with high note first)

Descending

Listen [MIDI file]: Minor 6th Descending

  • Theme from ‘Love Story’: First two notes
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Major 6th

Major 6th interval

Ascending

Listen [MIDI file]: Major 6th Ascending

  • Angels (Robbie Williams): First two notes of verse
  • It Came Upon the Midnight Clear (Carol): First two notes
  • Jingle Bells: First two notes of line “Dashing Through the Snow” (learn to play Jingle Bells)
  • My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean: First two notes

Descending

Listen [MIDI file]: Major 6th Descending

  • Music of the Night (from Phantom of the Opera) – first two notes of verse

Major 7th

Major 7th interval

Ascending

Listen [MIDI file]: Major 7th Ascending

  • On the Street Where You Live: the notes for ‘Once’ and ‘Am’ in ‘All at once am I, several storeys high’
  • There’s a Place For Us (West Side Story): First two notes

Descending

Listen [MIDI file]: Major 7th Descending

Octave

Octave interval

Ascending

Listen [MIDI file]: Octave Ascending

Descending

  • There’s No Business Like Show Business: Second and third notes

Listen [MIDI file]: Octave Descending

Hat tips to ThinkQuest, “Songwriting and the Creative Process”, VCU and commenters below for additional song ideas.

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Comments

16 Responses to “Songs to help you learn note intervals”

  1. The Graham English Blog » Free Online Relative Pitch Lesson on February 27th, 2006 6:12 pm

    [...] e pitch lesson online… Technorati Tags: relative pitch lesson Songs to he [...]

  2. Fox on July 17th, 2006 2:00 am

    Great. Thanks!

    Any more? :)

  3. Failure on July 25th, 2006 10:57 pm

    Hey, is there any thing for over the octave?

  4. Andy on July 26th, 2006 7:56 pm

    It gets harder to find first two notes with intervals over an octave. I’ll see if I can find any.

  5. d on September 12th, 2006 8:45 am

    M6 going up is the first notes of the NBC theme song. M5 going up is the theme to ET. m6 going up is the opening interval to Across the Starts Star Wars EP II.

  6. Meg on November 28th, 2006 10:43 pm

    Hey do you know any tricks to figuring out intervals descending

  7. jrock on May 4th, 2007 1:16 pm

    if you google search for decending intervals there are a ton of them

  8. Andy Milman on February 11th, 2008 2:39 am

    For the minor sixth going up, use “Let My People Go” (“WHEN ISRAEL was in Egypt’s Land….”)

  9. johnnysurfs on September 11th, 2008 8:18 pm

    For the perfect 5th, “Top Gun” theme works the best for me

  10. Katerina nguyen on October 30th, 2008 11:34 pm

    What is made from the second to the third notes of “Twinkle, Twinle, Little Star”?

    What interval is heard on the forst two notes of “i’ve been working on the railroad”?

    What interval occurs on the first two notes of the song “My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean”?

    What interval is made from the first two notes of “Oh, When the saints go marching in”?

    Pleaaaaaase & Thank you !
    :D

    If you have the anwsers, email me ASAP !
    ikaterinaaa@yahoo.com

  11. Hans Jakobsen on November 13th, 2009 11:26 am

    We have made a comprehensive chart of songs, organized by their starting interval. Each song includes a link to a YouTube video with the song. Check it out here:
    http://www.earmaster.com/intervalsongs

    Best regards,
    Hans Jakobsen
    EarMaster

  12. RandomGuy on March 8th, 2010 5:52 pm

    Fur Elise has an octave in it.

  13. Johnny on September 24th, 2010 3:11 am

    Does anyone else find minor sixth’s remind them of “I wear my Sunglasses at night”?

  14. Sam on July 30th, 2011 11:58 pm

    “There’s a place for us” actually starts with a minor 7th

  15. Gareth on January 25th, 2012 1:34 pm

    For both descending *and* ascending 6ths, there’s no better piece than this Brahms symph 4, it repeats over and over in a figure.

    Thanks for the info, this stuff helps adults learn. Most of the other websites I’ve seen are for elitist jerks who can more or less do it anyway and prolly had lessons from 5 years old or something.

    I hope you like this song, I think its really good :-)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnzPMJ7zbfk&feature=related

  16. Una melodia per ogni intervallo | Aulodie [Scuola] on March 24th, 2012 3:58 pm

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