Interval Ear Training
Two notes, you name the distance. You pick which intervals come past and whether they arrive ascending, descending or both at once, so the drill you actually need is two clicks away rather than locked behind a level.
- 13 intervals, you pick which
- ascending, descending or both at once
- answer by name or on the keys
How do you recognize intervals by ear?
Tie each interval to a song you already know. The first two notes of "Here Comes the Bride" are a perfect fourth, and the first two of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" are an octave. The interval chart has a song for every interval, going up and going down, with a button that plays the two notes. When an interval plays, sing the two notes back quietly and ask which opening they match. After a few days you stop needing the song and simply recognize the step.
Start small. The beginner set in the exercise above has five intervals: unison, minor third, major third, perfect fifth and octave. Add a new one only when the current set goes right about nine times out of ten, and add the neighbor of something you already know, so you learn to tell those two apart.
Ten questions take about two minutes. One round every day builds the skill faster than an hour once a week, because each day you come back to the intervals with fresh ears.
Up, down or together: does it matter?
The same interval sounds different depending on how it arrives. Pick an interval below and press all three buttons. Going up, a perfect fifth sounds like an opening; going down, the same two notes sound like a melody landing. Played together they blend into one sound, and then you hear the interval as a color instead of a movement.
Train going up first, because that is how most songs in the table above begin. Add going down once the set feels easy, and switch on together last. In real music melodies move both ways and chords stack intervals on top of each other, so a round with all three switched on is the closest to listening to a song.
FAQ
- Do you need perfect pitch to recognize intervals?
- No. Perfect pitch is naming a single note without any reference. Intervals only ask for relative pitch, hearing the distance between two notes, and that is a skill you build with practice.
- How many intervals are there?
- Inside one octave there are thirteen, counting the unison: from zero semitones, the same note twice, up to twelve, the octave. Beyond the octave the names continue, so a major ninth is an octave plus a major second.
- Why is a fifth called a fifth when it is seven semitones?
- The name counts letter names, not keys. From C up to G you pass C, D, E, F and G, five letters, so it is a fifth. Count the starting note as one, otherwise every interval comes out one number too small.
- How long does it take to learn intervals by ear?
- That depends on how many you train at once. Keep the set small, add one new interval only when the current ones go right about nine times out of ten, and do a short round every day.
Keep going
Everything in ear training
- Interval Ear Training
- Chord Quality Ear Training
- Scale Ear Training
- Find the Tonic