Recognising intervals with songs – free music theory course

The most effective way to recognise an interval by ear is to link it to the opening of a familiar tune. When you hear two notes, sing them in your head: "ah, that's the start of Frère Jacques" → major second.

M:4/4
L:1/4
Q:1/4=90
K:C
"^M2"C D E C | "^m3"E E G2 | "^M3"C E F G | "^P4"G, C C C | "^P5"C C G G | "^M6"G, E D C |]

In order: Frère Jacques ("Are You Sleeping?"), Brahms's Lullaby, When the Saints, O Christmas Tree, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, Jingle Bells (the verse).

Reference table (rising intervals)

Interval	Reference tunes
m2	Ode to Joy (E E F), Jaws
M2	Frère Jacques, Happy Birthday ("Hap-py birth-")
m3	Brahms's Lullaby, Greensleeves
M3	Oh When the Saints, Kumbaya, The Blue Danube (Strauss)
P4	Here Comes the Bride (Wagner), Amazing Grace, O Christmas Tree, La Marseillaise
Tritone	The Simpsons ("The Simp-"), Maria (West Side Story), Saint-Saëns's Danse macabre
P5	Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, Star Wars (main theme)
m6	The Entertainer (Joplin: the E → C leap)
M6	My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean, Jingle Bells ("Dash-ing")
m7	Somewhere (West Side Story), original Star Trek theme
M7	Take On Me (chorus) — or "an octave minus a half step"
P8	Over the Rainbow ("Some-where")

Falling intervals

m2: Für Elise (E – D♯), Joy to the World
M2: Mary Had a Little Lamb, Three Blind Mice
M3: Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (G G G E♭), Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
P4: Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik (G – D)
P5: The Flintstones ("Flint-stones")

Build your own list! The best references are the tunes you know by heart: nursery rhymes, hymns, TV themes, ringtones. Write them down and revise them with the site's ear-training exercise: 5 minutes a day is enough to progress very fast.

The limit of the method: songs are a useful crutch at first. With practice, aim to recognise each interval's own colour (the "sunny" major third, the "unstable" tritone, the "hollow, solid" fifth) without going through the tune.