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To improve your interval identifying skills,
you have to sharpen your listening competence.
In order to identify intervals you have to learn to categorize sounds.
So, you have to identify specific characteristics within a sound.
This is easy to say, if you know how to do it.
But as a beginner you may have no clue about what properties to look for.
Let me play three harmonic Unisons for you.
Here’s the first Unison.
Now the second Unison.
And finally the third Unison.
It perhaps sounded to you as if three single notes were played along a scale.
What the heck is a Unison then, you might ask?
You are right to ask this question!
It is difficult to explain a Unison if it is played harmonically with the same instrument.
A harmonically played Unison is defined as the same pitch played simultaneously from two sources.
But if we double the same instrument and play from exactly the same location,
then we hear just one sound, but more volume than if only one instrument sounded the tone.
So how can you be sure that it was a Unison and not simply one sound?
You cannot!
However, realistically the location of the sound sources
and the sounds of the two sources
will always be a little bit different.
So, to explain the properties of intervals,
it is easier to take a second interval with a different interval characteristic
and to compare the two properties.
Listen carefully to the following three intervals:
Which interval did not sound like a Unison?
Click the corresponding button!
Of course the second one.
On the staff it is very easy to see:
In the second interval the pitches of the two sources were an octave apart.
Congratulations! You have learned to listen for interval properties.
Now, that we know what an interval characteristic is, we can start to learn to identify the intervals.
There are 13 Simple Intervals, here depicted as ascending melodically.
First we will learn only 8 of them: the Perfect and Major intervals.
Actually, we will learn them one by one.
To track your progress we will use the Learningbox.
If you are not familiar with the Learningbox see our video: Absolute Pitch - Instructions.
If there is only one card - the Unison - in the Learningbox
you cannot fail the test: the answer will always be the Unison.
As soon as we add a new interval you must distinguish between them.
An easy way to distinguish between these intervals is by a process of exclusion.
If you can recognize one component for certain,
then you can identify the other by exclusion.
That means, we must thoroughly learn interval characteristics,
until we are sure that we have them internalized.
In this way we can add new intervals to our repertoire
and learn the new characteristic by exploring its differencies,
and exclude already learned and recognizable characteristics.
During the introduction we used this technique to distinguish between and recognize
the Octave characteristic from the Unison characteristic.
You could easily spot the Octave among the Unisons.
You will learn the characteristics of the other intervals the same way.
This step-by-step approach makes sure
that you expand your repertoire by differentiating interval characteristics from each other.
In order that the exclusion method is efficient,
the order of the skill-acquiring process is important.
Before we go into theoretical details let’s look at how our exercises work.
After all, these are the exercises where you can improve your listening skills by practicing.
The interval exercises look similar to the Octave Anchor Pitches exercises.
Before we start a lesson, we have the possibility to set some options.
These options allow us to do special training if desired.
If you select “Trainings Mode”,
then you can include individual intervals you wish to practice,
and exclude individual intervals you do not wish to practice.
You can also set the test mode
to play an interval as ascending, descending or harmonic,
and change other parameters.
As we have said in the Introduction to Intervals,
the lessons will start with melodic ascending intervals.
This makes it easier to recall an interval property
since you can associate melodies to the intervals.
This approach also improves your tonal memory
since you must remember the pitch of the first note
until the second note is played, in order to hear the change of the pitches;
or better yet, to hear the interval characteristic.
For detailed parameter descriptions see the Listening Ear Trainer user’s manual.
When you are done with the options, click “Go” to begin the lesson.
To explain the exercise, we have chosen the settings for the first lesson: Recognize the Ascending Perfect Unison and Perfect Octave.
We did not choose “Show Notes on Staff”, therefore we will only see question-marks on the staff.
The program will start to play the interval in question.
Your task is to click on the interval you heard by pressing the corresponding button.
In this exercise it will either be the Perfect Unison,
or the Perfect Octave.
You must make your choice within a given timeframe.
For melodic intervals the countdown will be displayed as soon as the second note starts playing.
Okay, let’s go through the exercise.
When you have made your choice the selected interval gets a yellow frame.
The feedback cycle starts by displaying and playing your selected interval.
After that the correct answer is displayed and played.
The score for the interval in question as well as the interval clicked get updated.
In this case, a wrong answer, the scoring for both intervals will be reset to zero.
If you do nothing, then after about a second the program continues with the next question.
Otherwise, you have the option to hear your answer again, and/or the correct answer.
You can even choose to hear the interval as a harmonic, melodic ascending, or descending interval.
To more easily remember the interval,
You also have the option to listen to a sample song.
that begins with the interval in question.
Click either: “Ascending Melody” or “Descending Melody” to start the sample song.
We strongly believe in learning by doing.
Doing means activity using muscles.
Therefore, we make it possible to quickly learn and feel the placement of the vocal muscles of an interval characteristic by actively singing the interval.
You can bring the interval in a range that suits you
by clicking on the “Plus” button,
or the “Minus” button.
Clicking “Go” brings you to the training for interval singing.
The Singing Training will start with a count-off to let you synchronize with the notes.
As with all our singing exercises
a realtime visual feedback will help you identify the interval correctly.
The pitch line shows you if you are on track,
or too low
or too high.
After about 4 seconds the program will return to the replay screen.
Here you can continue with the singing training,
or listen to a song associated with the interval,
or continue with the recognition exercise.
A remark about the singing training:
Unfortunately, the first interval we learn to differentiate is the Octave from the Unison.
To sing an Octave may not be easy, since the pitches are an octave apart.
Thus, the muscle movements to bring the voice up or down an Octave are large.
Therefore, if you are not yet a singer that has a range of an Octave,
we recommend skipping the singing training until the distance between the pitches of the intervals,
is small enough to achieve the muscle movement without any stress.
Continuing the lesson will play another interval to identify.
This cycle continues until 25 interval exercises are given.
After these 25 exercises the program summarizes the score for this lesson
and proposes to continue with the next lesson.
If you feel that you have not yet mastered how to distinguish the Unison from the Octave
we recommend that you repeat the lesson.
Otherwise, continue with the next proposed lesson.
This next lesson adds the Perfect Fifth to the Unison and the Octave.
Now it is your turn to do the exercises.
Expand your interval recognition repertoire slowly.
Feel the confidence of having mastered a step toward your goal.
In case of setbacks, remember you have succeeded once, so you can do it again - faster.
Enjoy the progress you make.