Intervals

Interval training helps to sharpen the ear and improves a singer’s ability to sing from the printed page as well as singing from the root up the chromatic scale as we frequently do during warm-ups.Here are portions of many well-known songs and which correspond to a particular musical interval. The boldface lyric syllables show which notes of each melody correspond to the interval.For further practice, including ear trainers, visit A Music Theory Guide, from the Paul Lindblad Choristers. (You will need download the Macromedia Flash plugin.)

	Do	Root	Root
A S C E N D I N G		m2	Minor Second	You must remember this (‘As Time Goes By’) I left my heart in San Francisco Theme from Jaws (repeating two-note pattern)
	Re	M2	Major Second	Doe-a-deer Happy Birth-day
		m3	Minor Third	Lul-la-by and good night(Brahm’s Lullaby) A time for us (‘Love Theme From Romeo And Juliet’) To dream the impossible dream
	Mi	M3	Major Third	From the halls of Montezuma Have your-self a merry little Christmas Well I come from Alabama (‘Oh Susanna’)
	Fa	P4	Perfect Fourth	Here comes the bride Day is done (‘Taps’ bugle call)
		A4	Tritone Augmented Fourth Diminished Fifth	Ma-ri-a (from West Side Story)
	So	P5	Perfect Fifth	Hey there, Georgy Girl Rain-drops on roses (‘My Favorite Things’, Sound of Music)
		m6	Minor Sixth	‘Cast Your Fate To The Wind,’ first two notes (Black Orpheus theme) For Papa, make him a scholar (from ‘Matchmaker’ in Fiddler On The Roof)
	La	M6	Major Sixth	My Bonnie lies over the ocean Dash-ing through the snow (‘Jingle Bells’); N-B-C (network chime)
		m7	Minor Seventh	There’s a place for us (from ‘Somewhere’ in West Side Story) Theme from original Star Trek (first two notes)
	Ti	M7	Major Seventh	Ba-li Hai will find you (from South Pacific; first and third notes)
	Do	Octave	Octave	Some-where over the rainbow
D E S C E N D I N G		m2	Minor Second	Shall we dance (from The King and I) Joy to the World I know a dark secluded place (‘Hernando’s Hideaway’)
	Ti	M2	Major Second	Ma-ry had a little lamb Three Blind Mice Whis-tle while you work
		m3	Minor Third	Look at me (‘Misty’) Toot-Toot Tootsie, good-bye Oh-o say you see (‘Star Spangled Banner’)
	La	M3	Major Third	Swing low, sweet chariot Good night, ladies Summertime and the livin’ is easy.
	So	P4	Perfect Fourth	Born free I’ve Been Workin’ On the railroad
		A4	Tritone Augmented Fourth Diminished Fifth	European police siren (go see a foreign film)
	Fa	P5	Perfect Fifth	Feel-ings, nothing more than feelings Flint-stones, We’re the Flintstones
		m6	Minor Sixth	Where do I begin (‘Theme From Love Story’)
	Mi	M6	Major Sixth	No-body knows the trouble I seen Gonna lay down my sword and shield (‘Down By The Riverside’) 0-ver there
		m7	Minor Seventh	Theme from American In Paris (first two notes)
	Re	M7	Major Seventh	The last phrase of “So have yourself a merry little Christmas now.”
	Do	Root	Octave	Wil-low weep for me