Mnemonics for intervals

[danny elfboy]

Sometimes is useful for the students to have mnemonics for remember their intervals.
Usually this means a famous song which begins with a certain interval.

For example the Octave is Over The Rainbow and the Fifth is Twinkle Twinkle Little Start

Do you teach mnemonics?
Could you list the mnemonics you teach/use for all the other intervals?

[wotgoplunk]

Minor 2nd- Jaws
Major Second- Scale step
Major Third- Do a Deer
Augmented Fourth- Simpsons Theme
Perfect 4th- For he's a jolly good fellow
Major Sixth- My Bonnie lies overt he ocean
Minor 7th- Somewhere from West-Side Story

[allthumbs]

Perfect.

[spaciiey]

Hey you forgot perfect 5th - star wars theme

[mike_lang]

...and minor sixth - Close Every Door to Me (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat); perhaps Beethoven's 3rd piano concerto for minor third.

[Bob]

m7 -- Bernstein, There's a Place for Us.  "There's a...."


The only problem I've heard about doing this is that you also get the tonality with those intervals in the context of a melody.  A "There's a Place for Us" m7 is sol-fa I think, but I think that sounds very different than a Do-te m7.

It works for the ear tests though, doesn't it?


There's another thread on this site with more.

Do-fi   Aug 4th   from Bernstien, West Side Story, "Maria"   Do-fi-sol....

[gerry]

Hey you forgot perfect 5th - star wars theme

or a bottle of Jack Daniels

[thalberg]

Perfect fifth is also super man theme, and also twinkle twinkle, and also the alphabet song (in english).

[mephisto]

Minor 2nd: James Bond Theme
Major 2nd: "Lisa gikk til skolen" or Brahms 2nd Piano Concerto 1st mvt.
Minor 3rd: "Smoke on the water"
Major 3rd: Kombaya my lord
Perfect 4th: "Norge i rødt hvitt og blått"
Tritone: Not sure....
Perfect 5th: "Bæ bæ lille lam"
Minore 6th: Conquest of Paradise
Major 6th: "Du grønne glittrende tre"
Minor 7th: "The winner takes it all" by ABBA
Major 7th: Somewhere in "Take on me" by Aha.

[danny elfboy]

Thanks a lot everyone, these were great
I also found few other ones.

Minor 2nd: "White Christmas" and "Fur Elise"
Minor 3rd: "Greensleeves" and "Lullaby (Brahms)
Major 3rd: "When the Saints Go Marching in"
Perfet 4th: "Amazing Grace"

[danny elfboy]

The only problem I've heard about doing this is that you also get the tonality with those intervals in the context of a melody.  A "There's a Place for Us" m7 is sol-fa I think, but I think that sounds very different than a Do-te m7.

As long as the interval is in the first two notes of the mnemonic (and not the third or fourth or others one) and you think in term of "Moveable Do" there shouldn't be any problem

[thalberg]

Also, another really catchy one:  Perfect 4th=beginning of Berg Sonata.

[will]

Ascending Intervals

Minor 2: The Entertainer, chromatic scales, Stormy Weather, White Christmas, How Insensitive (up & down)

Major 2: Frere Jacques, Major scale, Silent Night, Happy Birthday, My Funny Valentine, Norwegian Wood

Minor 3: O Canada, Greensleeves, To Dream the Impossible Dream, Jingle Bells, Georgia, Rock a Bye Baby

Major 3: When the Saints Go Marching In, Kum BaYah, From the Halls of Montezuma, Just the Way You Are

Perfect 4: Amazing Grace, Here Comes the Bride, O Christmas Tree, While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Diminished 5: Maria (West Side Story), The Simpsons

Perfect 5: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, Do you Hear What I Hear, Star Wars, My Favorite Things

Minor 6: The Entertainer, Chopin Waltz in C#-, She's a Woman (Beatles), What if God was One of Us?

Major 6: My Bonnie, the NBC Theme, Inchworm, Take the A Train, My Way, It Came upon a Midnight Clear

Minor 7: There’s a Place For Us (Somewhere), top of the Dominant 7th chord, Star Trek

Major 7: Superman Theme, Bali H'ai, O Terra Addio (Aida)

Perfect 8: Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Annie Laurie, Paper Moon

Descending Intervals

Minor 2: Joy to the World, Fur Elise, All Through the Night

Major 2: Mary Had a Little Lamb, Three Blind Mice, The First Noel, Yesterday, Misty, Scooby Do

Minor 3: Star Spangled Banner, This Old Man, Hey Jude, Girl From Ipanema, Jesus Loves Me

Major 3: Good Night Ladies, Beethoven’s 5th, Summer Time and Livin’ is Easy

Perfect 4: Old McDonald, Mickey Mouse Club Theme, Base Ball Chant, Born Free,All of Me, Pachelbel Canon

Perfect 5: Flintstones, Bach Minuet In G, People Will Say We're in Love, Star Spangled Banner (1st to 3rd)

Minor 6: Love Story Theme,  Sicilienne (Schumann)

Major 6: Nobody Know the Trouble I’ve Seen, Over There, Music of the Night, Narcissus

Minor 7: None But the Lonely Heart

Major 7: Down an octave and up 1 semitone

Perfect 8: There’s No Business Like Show Business, Hot Cross Buns, Willow Weep For Me

[will]

As long as the interval is in the first two notes of the mnemonic (and not the third or fourth or others one) and you think in term of "Moveable Do" there shouldn't be any problem

Danny there is a problem, you could be mentally changing key with every interval.
Take the descending melody G F E D C over a C chord. It is simple to hear this as scale degrees 5 4 3 2 1 in the key of C. However imagine taking the mnemonic approach:
Starting on G you sing down to F using the first two notes of Mary Had A Little Lamb - you have just sung the interval in the context of in Eb major not C major! (To continue the melody of Mary Had A Little Lamb would be G F Eb F G G G F F F etc.)
Now to sing from F to E you use the first two notes of Fur Elise - you have sung the interval in the context of Bb minor.
From E to D you use Mary Had A Little Lamb this time in the context of C major.
Finally from D to C you again use Mary Had A Little Lamb but this time in the context of Bb major.
Why wouldn't you simply sing major scale degrees 5 4 3 2 1 instead of mentally changing key 4 times with 4 intervals?

[danny elfboy]

Danny there is a problem, you could be mentally changing key with every interval.
Take the descending melody G F E D C over a C chord. It is simple to hear this as scale degrees 5 4 3 2 1 in the key of C. However imagine taking the mnemonic approach:
Starting on G you sing down to F using the first two notes of Mary Had A Little Lamb - you have just sung the interval in the context of in Eb major not C major! (To continue the melody of Mary Had A Little Lamb would be G F Eb F G G G F F F etc.)
Now to sing from F to E you use the first two notes of Fur Elise - you have sung the interval in the context of Bb minor.
From E to D you use Mary Had A Little Lamb this time in the context of C major.
Finally from D to C you again use Mary Had A Little Lamb but this time in the context of Bb major.
Why wouldn't you simply sing major scale degrees 5 4 3 2 1 instead of mentally changing key 4 times with 4 intervals?

The mnemonic shouldn't be in context.
It's not like you use for example Mary Had  A Little Lamb to remember what the interval sounds like in the song, but you remember mary had little lamb just to remember those two notes outside of the context of the song. So if I sing the first two notes of Mary Had A little Lamb I have a mnemonic for a major 2nd. That Ta-Ta (the first two notes) are the sound of a second and identical to whatever second in whatever key.

After all learning intervals is not about singing scales but to be able to sightsing non consecutive intervals which jump from one to another without the consecutive notes of a scale.

Try this.
Play whatever note on the piano.
Now from starting from that note sing the first two notes of Mary Had a Little Lamb
Now remember how the interval sounds like.
Play whatever other note, and try to sing the second note so that the interval between the note you played and the note you sing sounds exactly like the interval you have previously played using the first two notes of Mary Had a Little Lamb.
Can you tune the interval correctly?
Now try with another note, and another and another.
See? You're indeed learning and memorizing intervals and using mnemonics as a sort of anchor to remember how they should sound and be able to reproduce them in whatever key.

[gerry]

Does anyone use solfege syllables any more? That's how I learned my intervals.

[keyofc]

I had to learn solfege - but it never worked like the songs did for me.

Maj 3  Oh when the saints go marching in
Maj 6  It came upon the midnite clear
min 3  To dream the impossible dream
Perfect 4 Here comes the bride
was this one already mentioned?