Intervals are one of the core ear training topics that most musicians tackle as they hone their aural skills. Often the small intervals (seconds and thirds) and octaves are easy to get a handle on, but the larger ones are trickier. One request we hear again and again from RelativePitch users and site visitors is how best to recognise intervals of a sixth or seventh.

It’s easy to understand this. With the small intervals it’s relatively easy to relate one note to the other by using a scale or arpeggio (whether consciously, or just relying on your ear). Anybody who’s played endless major scales on their instrument will be very familiar with major and minor seconds already, as the steps of the scale. Likewise, major and minor thirds feature in arpeggios. Perfect fourths and fifths start getting a bit tougher, and once you extend the leap to sixths and sevenths, a lot of students feel it’s too big a jump for them to accurately judge. Sure, it’s bigger than a fifth and smaller than an octave, but that still leaves four possibilities!

Tips for recognising sixths and sevenths

We’ll look at three techniques which can be helpful if you’re struggling with these intervals. They all provide a “stepping stone” to recognising the interval. Use the technique described to get started and help your ear start to appreciate the character of the interval. Then in time you’ll find you can recognise them straight off!

1. Use the interval’s inversion
2. Use small intervals to reach a known interval
3. Use reference tunes which feature the interval

1. Use the interval’s inversion

If you’re approaching sixths and sevenths, the chances are good you’ve already mastered seconds, thirds and octaves (if not, it’s probably worth going back to get solid on those easier intervals). Here’s a trick you can use to start identifying sixths and sevenths, just using your ability with thirds and octaves.

You can use major and minor thirds to distinguish minor from major sixths. Likewise, you can use major/minor seconds for minor/major sevenths.

The trick is to ‘jump’ the lower note of the interval up an octave in your mind’s ear. This inverts the sixth or seventh into a second or third instead, and by recognising this smaller interval you can figure out the original interval!

For example: When trying to identify a large interval, you jump the lower note up an octave and you can tell it creates a Major Third. You then know the original interval was a Minor Sixth:

You can use this trick for all sixths and sevenths:
Click to read the rest…

Once we are reasonably comfortable with intervals and triads, we can start to work on seventh chords. You may recall that a seventh chord is a triad with an added seventh above the root. The most common seventh chord in western music is the dominant seventh chord.

Dominant Seventh Chords

In C major the dominant seventh pitches are G B D F, G to F being the seventh:

Dominant Seventh Chord

1. Dominant Seventh Chord

This chord is a major triad built on V with a minor seventh above the root. Its solfege is so ti re fa. First we will learn how to sing it. Click to read the rest…