How to recognize major and minor mode by ear

[faa2010]

Hello,

I am going to present an exam which mostly consists in ear training.

There is an exercise where one should recognize in a fragment if the mode is major or minor.

The options would me something like: M-m, m-M, M-m-M, m-m-m, etc.

I though that majors would sound happy and merry, while minors sound sad and depriment, but this idea for me has resulted to be very deceiving.

It is very difficult for me because there are fragments which appear to be happy, but in reality they use minor mode.

Do you know how can I recognize them in a musical fragment?

Is there a online training which can help me?

Note: This is not related to reading the fragment or music sheet, it is about listening only.

[dima_76557]

I though that majors would sound happy and merry, while minors sound sad and depriment, but this idea for me has resulted to be very deceiving. It is very difficult for me because there are fragments which appear to be happy, but in reality they use minor mode.

Sad and not sad is probably not good way to remember because Major can also be very very sad. Listen, for a sample, to Chopin etude op. 25 no 12.

Is there a online training which can help me?

Only training helps to recognize sound effect of intervals together. Online this maybe?
https://www.good-ear.com/servlet/EarTrainer

[bubbamc]

Sing both scales in solfege, choose any key you want and use the piano to get the tonic pitch into your ear.

For major, use Do as the tonic. i.e. do re mi fa so la ti

For minor, use La as the tonic. i.e. la ti do re mi fa so la (this is natural minor, raise the "so" one half step to "si" and you have the harmonic minor).

Then sing arppegios while the scale is fresh in your ear.

Then choose another key and repeat.

Basically to hear if a scale is minor or major there are two steps. 1 - identify the tonic (the "home base" note, this is the most stable note in any section of music). 2 - determine if the interval between the first note and the third note is a major or minor interval. If it's major, it's a major tonality. If it's minor, it's a minor tonality.

Solfege will automatically take care of step 2 for you, that is if the tonic was identified correctly.

Continue using solfege in the near future. Pretty soon you will know if a fragment is major or minor instantly, without any thought.

[timothy42b]

Solfege will automatically take care of step 2 for you, that is if the tonic was identified correctly.

Continue using solfege in the near future. Pretty soon you will know if a fragment is major or minor instantly, without any thought.

Provided the fragment is long enough AND contains some distinguishing characteristics.

For example, the fragment C-D could be C major, C minor, F major or minor, Bb major or minor, etc.  CDE could not be C minor, but it could still be C major, G major, F major.  CDFG can't be determined.  (but CDFGAb would give you a clue) 

[bubbamc]

Provided the fragment is long enough AND contains some distinguishing characteristics.

For example, the fragment C-D could be C major, C minor, F major or minor, Bb major or minor, etc.  CDE could not be C minor, but it could still be C major, G major, F major.  CDFG can't be determined.  (but CDFGAb would give you a clue) 

This is true, however I doubt a teacher would play C-D and expect the student to determine the tonality. It's not possible.

[timothy42b]

Well, what makes it minor is the flat third.  Listen for that in a melodic line, and listen for minor chords in the harmony.  It isn't that hard once you've heard an A-B test.

Now, recognizing church modes, that's a whole different game.  Useful for sightsinging, but otherwise maybe not for the beginner.