HearmonyInterval Songs: Easy Reference Songs for Every Interval
Interval songs are well-known tunes whose first notes outline a specific interval, so you can recall the sound on demand. "Here Comes the Bride" opens with a perfect fourth, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" jumps a perfect fifth, and "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" leaps up a major sixth. The chart below gives a reference for every interval up to the octave, going up and going down, with the exact notes.
What songs help you remember intervals?
The best interval songs are ones you can hear in your head instantly, and whose interval sits right at the start. Each row below shows the interval, its size in half steps (semitones), an example built on C, and the notes of each song's opening written as if the song were in C major (or A minor), so you can check them on any keyboard.
| Interval | Half steps | From C | Ascending song | Descending song |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minor 2nd | 1 | C–D♭ | "Jaws" theme (E→F) | "Für Elise" (E→D♯) |
| Major 2nd | 2 | C–D | "Frère Jacques" (C→D); "Happy Birthday," "-py" to "birth" (G→A) | "Mary Had a Little Lamb" (E→D); "Three Blind Mice" (E→D) |
| Minor 3rd | 3 | C–E♭ | "Greensleeves" (A→C); "Smoke on the Water" riff (G→B♭) | "This Old Man" (G→E); "Hey Jude" (G→E) |
| Major 3rd | 4 | C–E | "When the Saints Go Marching In" (C→E); "Kumbaya" (C→E) | "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (E→C); Beethoven's Fifth, after the three repeated notes (G→E♭) |
| Perfect 4th | 5 | C–F | "Here Comes the Bride" (C→F); "Amazing Grace" (G→C) | Mozart's "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" (G→D) |
| Tritone | 6 | C–F♯ | "Maria" from West Side Story (C→F♯, then up to G) | "Black Sabbath" riff, after the octave jump (G→C♯) |
| Perfect 5th | 7 | C–G | "Twinkle, Twinkle," "-kle" to "twin-" (C→G); "Star Wars" main theme, after the pickup (C→G) | "The Flintstones" theme, "Flint-stones" (G→C) |
| Minor 6th | 8 | C–A♭ | "The Entertainer," after the D–D♯ pickup (E→C) | No common opening: hear "The Entertainer" leap and reverse it |
| Major 6th | 9 | C–A | "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" (G→E); NBC chimes (G→E) | "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" (A→C) |
| Minor 7th | 10 | C–B♭ | "Somewhere" from West Side Story (C→B♭); original Star Trek theme | No common opening: think of an octave, then come back one whole step |
| Major 7th | 11 | C–B | No reliable opening: hear an octave and lower the top note by a half step | Same trick, going down |
| Octave | 12 | C–C | "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," "Some-where" (C→C) | Reverse "Over the Rainbow" |
The arrows show direction: E→F means you hear E first, then F above it. For the "Jaws," "Smoke on the Water" and "Black Sabbath" rows the notes are the ones those pieces actually use; the others are transposed to C so you can compare them. Wikipedia's interval recognition article lists more references if none of these is in your head.
Pick one song per interval and stick with it. Two references for the same interval are fine; switching every week is not.
What song is a major sixth?
"My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" is the classic major sixth: "My" is G, "Bon-" is the E above it. The NBC chimes (G, E, C) start with the same leap. Going down, the first two notes of the spiritual "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" fall a major sixth, A down to C.
The major sixth is easy to mix up with the minor sixth, one half step smaller. The major sixth sounds open and warm, like a call across a field; the minor sixth, as in the leap of "The Entertainer," sounds more yearning and leans downward.
What song is a tritone?
"Maria" from West Side Story is the best-known ascending tritone: "Ma-" to "-ri-" is C up to F♯, and "-a" resolves up a half step to G. The tritone splits the octave exactly in half (six half steps), which is why it sounds unstable and wants to move.
Going down, the riff of Black Sabbath's song "Black Sabbath" plays G, the G an octave higher, then drops to C♯: that last drop is a descending tritone. A second trick works in both directions: a tritone is a perfect fifth that's one half step short, so hear the fifth and let it sag.
Descending interval songs: why you need them
Descending intervals sound different from ascending ones, even when the distance is the same. C up to G feels like a lift; G down to C feels like landing. If you only learn ascending references, falling melodies will keep tripping you up.
The descending column has fewer famous songs, especially for sixths and sevenths. Where no reliable reference exists, the chart says so instead of guessing. For those, play the ascending interval, then the same two notes in reverse order, and learn the falling shape as its own sound.
Harmonic intervals: when songs don't help
Song references only work for melodic intervals, where one note follows the other. A harmonic interval plays both notes at once, so there's no "first two notes" to match against a tune.
For harmonic intervals, listen for character instead. Octaves and fifths sound hollow and blended; thirds and sixths sound sweet and full; seconds and sevenths rub and buzz; the tritone sounds tense. If you're stuck, hum the bottom note, then the top note, and you've turned it back into a melodic interval your song can name.
Do interval songs actually work?
Interval songs work well as a starting point and less well as a long-term method. They give you a reliable way to find an interval when you have time to think, which is exactly what a beginner needs.
Their limit is speed: running "Here Comes the Bride" in your head takes a second or two, and real music doesn't wait. The goal is to use the song until the interval has its own sound for you, then let the song fade. Mixed, timed practice speeds this up, and hearing intervals in the context of a key, through scale degrees, adds a second, faster route. Both are part of building relative pitch.
How do you practice intervals with songs? A 7-day plan
Learn two intervals a day, always against ones you already know, and keep each session to about 10 minutes. Have someone play the intervals for you, or use an app with random playback.
| Day | New intervals (ascending) | Mix with |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Perfect 5th, octave | Each other |
| 2 | Perfect 4th, major 3rd | 5th, octave |
| 3 | Minor 3rd, major 2nd | 4th, major 3rd |
| 4 | Major 6th, minor 6th | 5th, octave |
| 5 | Minor 7th, major 7th, tritone | 6ths, octave, 5th |
| 6 | Descending 5th, 4th, major 3rd, minor 3rd | Their ascending versions |
| 7 | Mixed test: 20 intervals, up and down | Note which ones you missed; those start next week |
Change the starting note every few questions. If every interval starts on C, you'll learn to recognize the second note rather than the distance.
Self-test: name these five intervals
- D up to A
- E down to C
- F up to D
- A down to E
- G up to B♭
Answers: 1. perfect fifth ("Twinkle"), 2. major third ("Swing Low"), 3. major sixth ("My Bonnie"), 4. perfect fourth ("Eine kleine Nachtmusik"), 5. minor third ("Greensleeves").
Practice interval songs in Hearmony
Hearmony, the iPhone ear-training app the Hearmony team builds, teaches intervals in the same order as the plan above. Leap Lagoon starts with fifths and octaves, adds the fourth with its "Here Comes the Bride" reference, then major and minor thirds, falling leaps and intervals played together. Interval Peaks covers every interval up to the octave, ascending, descending and harmonic.
When Hearmony introduces a new interval, and when it explains an answer, it names a reference opening such as "Here Comes the Bride" for the fourth, so the song shows up exactly when you need it. Song Studio's library of public-domain tunes includes many songs from this chart, among them "Twinkle, Twinkle," "My Bonnie," "Für Elise" and "The Entertainer." For the bigger picture, start with the ear training for beginners guide.