EAR TRAINING EXPLAINED HOW TO PLAY MUSIC BY EAR
by Julian Bradley
WHAT DOES ‘TRANSCRIB E’ MEAN?
BEFORE WE BEGIN
Throughout this book I use the word ‘transcribe’ often. ‘Transcribe’ means to identify notes and chords by ear.
PERFECT PITCH
VS RELATIVE
PITCH
Whether you end up playing those notes at your
There are 2 ways to play music by ear - perfect pitch and
instrument, or whether you just do the brain work and
relative pitch. Perfect pitch is the ability to recognize
keep it to yourself - the process is called ‘transcribing’. ‘transcribing’.
specific note frequencies - memorizing the sound of C,
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
C#, D, etc. Few people have perfect pitch - you either
It’s important to practice transcribing on the right level of
have it or you don’t, and generally speaking, you can’t learn it. I do not have perfect pitch.
music. For this reason, I’ve listed appropriate level songs throughout this book as ‘recommended ‘recommended listening’. These
Relative pitch however can be learnt by anyone, and is
songs span a range of styles and tastes, but all make
taught at most universities / music colleges. In this book I
perfect transcribing practice and feature the concepts
teach relative pitch. Relative pitch works by memorizing
covered in this book. When a song t itle is underlined, underlined,
the sound of notes and chords within the context of the
the text is a clickable link which will take you to the
key - the sound of the root, 2nd, 3rd, the I chord, the V
band’s official video on youtube.
chord, and so on - all of which sound the same in every key. But at the end of the day, you don’t know which key the music is actually in - which is rarely of importance anyway. The nice thi ng about lea rning relati ve pitch is tha t you learn the rules of music at the same time - whereas perfect pitch doesn’t do that, it just hands you the answer on a plate.
GOOD SPEAKERS
It’s important to listen to music on good speakers which allow you to hear the bass clearly. Since hearing the bassline is essential to transcribing a song, avoid listening to music on laptop speakers, which cut out the bass and makes things unnecessarily difficult. Listen through proper speakers or headphones instead.
WHAT DOES ‘TRANSCRIB E’ MEAN?
BEFORE WE BEGIN
Throughout this book I use the word ‘transcribe’ often. ‘Transcribe’ means to identify notes and chords by ear.
PERFECT PITCH
VS RELATIVE
PITCH
Whether you end up playing those notes at your
There are 2 ways to play music by ear - perfect pitch and
instrument, or whether you just do the brain work and
relative pitch. Perfect pitch is the ability to recognize
keep it to yourself - the process is called ‘transcribing’. ‘transcribing’.
specific note frequencies - memorizing the sound of C,
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
C#, D, etc. Few people have perfect pitch - you either
It’s important to practice transcribing on the right level of
have it or you don’t, and generally speaking, you can’t learn it. I do not have perfect pitch.
music. For this reason, I’ve listed appropriate level songs throughout this book as ‘recommended ‘recommended listening’. These
Relative pitch however can be learnt by anyone, and is
songs span a range of styles and tastes, but all make
taught at most universities / music colleges. In this book I
perfect transcribing practice and feature the concepts
teach relative pitch. Relative pitch works by memorizing
covered in this book. When a song t itle is underlined, underlined,
the sound of notes and chords within the context of the
the text is a clickable link which will take you to the
key - the sound of the root, 2nd, 3rd, the I chord, the V
band’s official video on youtube.
chord, and so on - all of which sound the same in every key. But at the end of the day, you don’t know which key the music is actually in - which is rarely of importance anyway. The nice thi ng about lea rning relati ve pitch is tha t you learn the rules of music at the same time - whereas perfect pitch doesn’t do that, it just hands you the answer on a plate.
GOOD SPEAKERS
It’s important to listen to music on good speakers which allow you to hear the bass clearly. Since hearing the bassline is essential to transcribing a song, avoid listening to music on laptop speakers, which cut out the bass and makes things unnecessarily difficult. Listen through proper speakers or headphones instead.
PARt one
ear
training
fundamentals
COMING UP: 3 pillars of ear training fixed key learning staying within the key think in terms of “key”
Practice doesn’t make perfect - perfect practice
listen / think / check
makes perfect. The biggest bigges t difference between those thos e
summary
who succeed at ear training and those who don’t, is whether or not they practice ear training the right way. There are many man y practice tec hniques which wh ich are not only ineffective, but are actually counterproductive and prevent your ear from developing, despite seeming like a good idea. So in this section I layout the most important fundamentals to practicing ear training - this is the most essential information in this book.
THE
3 PILLARS
of ear training How does playing music by ear work? There are 3 aspects involved:
3. Interval recognition. Once you’ve identified a
1. Knowledge of Scale. Before listening to anything,
familiar note or chord by ear, the final step is to track
you must memorize and understand the 7 note scale that
where the music moves from then on, by listening to the
nearly all western music is written in. This means learning
intervals it moves by - up a step - down a 3rd - up a 4th -
the notes and chords which exist within the key like the
and so on:
back of your hand - which chords are major, which are minor, where the half-steps occur, and so on. This is 2/3rds of the work, and attempting to transcribe music by ear without studying the terrain beforehand is useless. 2. Note / Chord recognition. Learn to recognize a few notes and a few chords by ear - hearing one of these tells you wh ere within t he scale t he music is . You don’t
And that’s the gist of transcribing music by ear - 3 skills
have to learn all notes and chords by ear - in fact you only
used in combination. In this book I cover each fully and
need to accurately identify one note or chord to pin point
show you effective practice methods to master each.
your location within the scale:
- nearly all are built using the same few notes and chords -
FIXED KEY LEARNING
the one thing changing is usually the key signature. Key is not important - the only reason we have multiple
If you take just one thing from this book, remember this: The fastest way to master relative pitch is to restrict your playing to one key, for a sustained period of time. Every new concept you learn about, apply it to that one key. Every composition you write, write it in that key. Every song you listen to, listen to it as though it’s in that key, and learn to play it in that key - not the key of the original. The biggest obstacle preventing most musicians from developing relative pitch, is that they continually change key - they’ll practice one song in one key, then another
keys is so a composer can find the best fit for their music and the performers’ ranges - if the singer can’t make the top note, they’ll transpose it down a few keys. If the bass sounds too muddy, they’ll transpose it up a few keys - but that’s it. A piece of mus ic sounds the same whi chever key you play it in - 12 keys just means 12 different ways to say the same thing. Changing key regularly only distracts you from seeing what’s actually important. 2 BENEFITS
Restricting your playing to one key has 2 main benefits:
song in a new key, and so on - and they’re even taught that
1. It eliminates the visual distractions encountered as you
this is a good thing to practice. But attempting to learn 12
change keys - no longer are you bombarded with every
keys early on just leaves them equally unaware in 12 keys
note and chord under the sun - F F# Gb etc:
rather than mastering one. Only when you line up every piece of music into the same key, do you see that 95% of music is written using just 7 notes and 6 chords. Whether i t’s a pop song, a country song, a tv commercial, or a Hans Zimmer film soundtrack
2. Notes and chords sound the same every time you play them. An essential part of playing by ear is learning the
unique sounds of notes and chords within the context of
these sounds in one key, then you’ll be able to notice
the key - the unique sound of the root, the 2nd, the 3rd,
them in every other key - but first you must learn them in
the V chord, the vi chord, etc. All the time you spend
one key.
playing in one key, the memories of these sounds builds up - C sounds like the root every time, D sounds like the 2nd every time - but as soon as you change to a new song in a new key, each note takes on a whole new sound within the new context - C now sounds like the 5th, D now sounds like the 6th, and all the memories that had been building up are quickly smudged away, and replaced with
I call this accelerated learning method ‘Fixed Key Learning’ - restricting my own playing to one key is what lead to my own accelerated ear development, and I’ve noticed the same results in my students - the ones who tell me they play and think mostly in one key have far superior relative pitch than those who play in all keys.
new ones. But your brain doesn’t know which ones to
Prioritize training your ear first, because ear training is
trust, so ultimately each note ends up being a muddy mix
king. Once you’ve made progress in ear training, it’s a
of memories - none of which stick:
much simpler task to become fluent playing in other keys, which can be learnt in a matter of weeks.
Only by restricting playing to one key do you give yourself a chance to ingrain these sounds - your memory of each note and chord grows stronger every time you play, and it’s impossible to backpedal. Once you’ve truly ingrained
STAYING WITHIN THE KEY First we mus t choose a key to stick to. There are 12 keys which exist, and each key represents a major scale and a minor scale - these are called ‘relative’ major and minor scales - both scales use the same group of notes, but start
And if I’m discussing the minor scale, or a minor song, I’ll demonstrate through A minor scale:
from different points (to be discussed in the next chapter). Throughout this course I will use the key of C major / A minor to demonstrate all concepts (the white notes on the piano): All major and all minor music can be played within the same 7 notes of the key.
STAYING WI THIN THE KEY
How do you keep your playing within this key? Simple make sure you only play notes from the scale (in this If I’m discussing the major scale, or a major song, I’ll demonstrate through C major scale:
case, the white notes) . The melody mu st stay within these 7 notes. The bassline must stay within these 7 notes. And the chords must be built entirely from these 7 notes:
So I’ll cross the first answer off my list, and come up with a new theory. In our key of C major / A minor, the correct answer actually looks like this:
If you play a note outside these (a black note) then you’ve changed key. If you’re transcribing a song by ear and its
So in my first answer I had the wrong starting note - the Bridal March melody actually starts on G, not C. When
melody seems to come out of the white notes, even for a
played starting from G, it stays within the 7 notes of C
single note (a Bb, or an F# for example) then your answer
major / A mi nor.
is wrong - the melody is somewhere else in the scale and you’ll need to come up with a new theory - one which fits within the notes of C major / A minor. For example, say that I’m transcribing the ‘Bridal March’ melody (‘here comes the bride’), and I come up with this:
This answer is wrong because it comes out of scale for the Bb.
MAJOR & MINOR ARE IRRELEVANT
THINK IN TERMS OF KEY You might think that the first step when transcribing a song would be to determine whether the music is major
And the 7 chords found in the major scale are the same 7
or minor - but this is rarely necessary. Rather than
chords found in the relative minor scale:
thinking narrowly in terms of ‘major’ or ‘minor’ it’s better to see the bigger picture and think in terms of ‘key’. ‘Key’ refers to the 7 note scale that 95% of western music is written in. Within these 7 notes both the major scale and the minor scale exist - but the word ‘key’ refers to the 7 notes from a neutral perspective - it’s neither major or minor. C major scale and A minor scale are both made from the same notes, and are called ‘relative’ major and minor scales. The only difference between them is their starting notes - C major starts from C, A minor starts from A:
This is why you can transcribe every major song and every minor song within the same key - the major sections are in C major, the minor sections are in A minor. Otherwise we’d need 2 separate keys - one for major songs and another for minor songs. MAJOR / MINOR = IRRELEVANT
Only a very small proportion of songs (2%) stay sounding major throughout - think of nursery rhymes like ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ or ‘Jingle Bells. Listen to these as
though they’re in C major, and think of the 7 notes
When the music is sounding major, I treat C as the root
starting from C.
of the scale, and visualize all notes starting from C. And
And an equally small proportion of songs sound exclusively minor - think of songs like Dave Brubeck’s ‘Take 5’ (the A section), ‘Cry Me A River’, or any rap song which sustains a minor chord throughout. Listen to these
when the music is sounding minor, I treat A as the root of the scale, and visualize all notes starting from A. And I slide back and forth between these 2 perspectives continually:
as though they’re in A minor, and think of the 7 notes starting from A. But the norm these days (90%+ of music) is to write music in a grey area between major and relative minor. It sways back and forth between sounding major, and then sounding relative minor - every 2 or 3 chords the music changes its mood - C major - A minor - C major - A minor. Listen to any mainstream radio station to hear this swaying effect in action:
So instead of thinking rigidly and narrowly of a song as ‘major’ or ‘minor’, think like this: ‘The song is in the key of C major / A minor - there’ll be C major moments, and there’ll be A minor moments either way, it’s the same notes and chords’:
INCREASED AWARENESS
NUMBERING FROM BOTH PERSPECTIVES
Relative major and minor scales are always the same
Within our key of C major / A minor, each of the 7 notes
distance apart, for all 12 keys - the relative minor scale
can be numbered from either scale’s perspective - you
can always be found starting a minor 3rd below the major
could number C D E as the root, 2nd, 3rd of C major
scale. I’m always aware of a major scale’s relative minor
scale. But those are the same exact notes as the 3rd, 4th,
scale, and a minor scale’s relative major scale. If someone
5th of A minor scale:
says ‘C major’ - the first thing I think is ‘C major / A minor’. If someone says ‘F major’ - I think ‘F major / D minor’, and the same for all 12 keys. I can’t think of one without the other - both are the same thing:
Understanding that major and minor scales are the same 7 notes simplifies things from an ear training perspective it means we only have to learn the sound of 7 notes - and not 2 separate 7 note scales. So don’t get bogged down with whether a song is major or minor - see the bigger picture and think in terms of the key - C major / A minor.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING observe the swaying major / minor effect: what a wonderful world louis armstrong
pure imagination jamie cullum infra 5 max richter Try Pink the a team ed sheeran under the bridge red hot chili peppers Halo Beyonce How To Save A Life The Fray Broken Wings Mr. Mister With Or Without You U2 time after time eva cassidy version I Want To Know What Love Is Foreigner click on song to listen
answer - ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ - which prevents their brain
LISTEN / THINK /
CHECK
from having to work or improve - the same way that relying on a calculator prevents you from improving your
The most important concept in this book is to restrict your playing / thinking to one key. The 2nd most important concept is to practice ear training the right
arithmetic. LISTEN / THINK / CHECK
This is how to practice transcribing music by ear:
way: listen
Ear training is practiced predominantly AWAY from your instrument - DO NOT attempt to play songs by ear sitting at your instrument. Again - DO NOT attempt to play songs by ear sitting at your instrument. Many people think they can ‘play by ear’ because they sit at their instrument and use trial and error to find the notes that match the recording. But this is not what ‘playing by ear’ means, and despite seeming like a good idea, is just another counter-productive practice technique which actually prevents you from improving. Ear training is actually brain training - it has little to do with your ear. Transcrib ing a song by ear is a lot of brain work, and feels like solving a puzzle. Someone who
Think
Check
Listen to the song as many times as you need, and listen to it as though it’s in your fixed key (C major / A minor). Think long and hard about each note and chord using the techniques covered in this book. Do some thinking while the music plays, and some thinking in silence. All the time you’re thinking, you’re improving - so don’t rush this stage. Check. The final and least important step is to check your answer, by playing it at your instrument. Don’t check your answer until you’ve mapped out your complete performance in your head.
transcribes songs at their instrument is preventing their
Of course you’ve been thinking of the music as though it’s
brain from learning - the instrument gives them an instant
in your fixed key, which will probably be different to the
recording - but just play your answer and your ear will adjust to the new key within a few notes. The goal is to think like this every time you hear music not just when you sit down to practice ear training. Every time you hear music, start dissecting every note and chord as you hear it. When listening to the radio, when you’re at a coffee shop or restaurant, when you’re watching a film, when a car drives by playing music, when someone’s ringtone goes off - your brain kicks into ‘transcribe mode’ every time.
MAJOR & MINOR ARE IRRELEVANT Determining whether a song is major or minor is rarely
necessary. Most music sways back and forth between sounding major and sounding relative minor, every 2 - 3 chords - C major - A minor - C major - A minor. So FIXED KEY LEARNING The fastest way to develop relative pitch is to restrict
instead of thinking narrowly of a song as ‘major’ or
your playing to one key, for a sustained period of time.
‘C major / A minor’ - a song in C major will probably
Doing so reduces the amount of visual distraction
spend just as much time sounding like it’s in A minor -
encountered when switching keys. It also ingrains the
both share the exact same notes and chords.
sound of each note and chord, which sound the same every time you play them within that key. Once these memories have built up, you’ll be able to notice these same sounds in every other key - but first you must learn them in one key. Throughout this book, I teach all concepts within the key of C major / A minor. Live, breathe, think, compose, play,
‘minor’, see the bigger picture and think in terms of key -
LISTEN / THINK / CHECK Avoid transcribing songs using your instrument - doing so
has no long term benefit for your brain and only prevents your ear from developing. Instead, practice transcribing songs away from your instrument using a 3 step process: Listen - listen to the music as many times as you need.
and transcribe all music in this key, at least for the
Think - use the techniques in this book to dissect every
duration of th is book. When trans cribing mus ic by ear,
note and chord.
make sure every note and every chord is built entirely of
Check - check your final answer by playing it at your
the white no tes. Anytime you play a blac k note you know
instrument.
you’ve broken out of key and need to test a new answer.
PARt three
interval recognition Once you’ve identified a note in the melody, you’ve done the hard part. Now you know where within the scale the melody is, and the next part is relatively easy - you just need to keep track of where the melody moves from then on, by listening to the intervals it moves by:
In this section I show you how to identify intervals by ear.
COMING UP: 6 P R I O R I T Y I N T E R VA L S learn intervals by singing them THE STEPPING STONE METHOD summary
then you can learn the sound of all 12 intervals. However, THE
6 PRIORITY INTERVALS
half of these intervals are rarely used - how often does a melody jump by a 7th, or a 6th? In fact it’s rare to hear a
When a melody moves from one note to the next, an
melody jump beyond a 5th in a single leap.
interval is created between those 2 notes. ‘Interval’ refers
The tritone is also rarely used, since it’s hard to sing and
to the distance between 2 notes - it’s a way of measuring
sounds creepy.
the size of any gap. If you know at least one melody note (using techniques from the previous section), then you can identify all other melody notes by tracking the intervals that note moves by:
Crossing these off the list leaves us with just 6 intervals most melodies are built entirely from these which I refer to as the ‘6 priority intervals’, because they’re the priority to learn by ear:
PRIORITY INTERVALS
Within the octave there are 12 intervals which exist:
When transcribing melodies by ear, most of the time you’ll be choosing between these 6. And in the rare instance that a melody jumps by one of the non-priority intervals, it’s possible to identify the leap using the 6 priority intervals, added together in various combinations
Each has its own size and sound, and can be learnt and recognized by ear. If you enjoy the challenge (like I do)
- to be discussed soon.
DESCENDING INTERVALS
What about descending intervals? Don’t we need to learn each interval ascending and descending? No. Many musicians go through the trouble of trying to learn intervals ascending and descending - but the truth is you never have to identify a descending interval by ear, if you don’t want to. When you he ar the mel ody descend by a leap, just sing the 2 notes repeatedly and think of them backwards, in reverse order - bottom note - top note. Then measure the interval as an ascending interval:
So to transcribe music by ear, you only have to learn the 6 priority intervals ascending - that’s it.
LEARN INTERVALS BY
SINGING THEM
Learning intervals this way is called ‘musical association’ simply associate each interval with a famous melody that features that interval in its first 2 notes:
Learn the sound of intervals by singing them - nothing else. By the time you can sing an interval, you’ve learnt it. Humming and whistling are just as good. In this chapter I show you a range of singing exercises, varying in difficulty, designed to ingrain the sound of intervals and make intervals fun and creative. EXERCISE 1: MUSICAL ASSOCIATION
The good news is that your brain already knows the sound of all 6 priority intervals - it’s been listening to them every day of your life, every time you play or listen to music. For example, if you can sing the first 2 notes of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, then your brain already knows the 5th. If you can sing the first 2 notes of the Bridal March (‘Here Comes The Bride’), then your brain already knows the sound of the 4th. The only thing that might be missing is the correct label to remember it by.
Away from your instrument, choose one of the 6 priority intervals to work on - e.g. the 4th. Recall the appropriate reference song for that interval (Bridal March). Sing both notes repeatedly, bottom note - top note:
Focus on the size and sound of the interval, and forget about the reference song that you used to find the notes the goal is to learn intervals without relying on the musical references all the time. EXERCISE 2: HALF-STEPS / WHOLE-STEPS
Of the 6 priority intervals, the half-step and whole-step are the most important - most melodies move by step more than any other interval. Ingrain the half-step / whole-step by singing your favorite exotic scales:
Once you can sing this scale, you’ve well and truly learnt the half-step and whole-step. SIGHT-SINGING
My favorite exercise of all is ‘sight-singing’: Play a starting note on your instrument, C for example. Now assign yourself a series of intervals to sing - ‘up a major 3rd’, ‘down a half-step,’ ‘up a 5th’ - and so on:
Keep track of which notes you should be singing, and finally check your answer by playing your intended end And nothing ingrains the half-step / whole-step more than singing the diminished scale, which is built of an alternating half-step / whole-step pattern:
note (Bb) at your instrument to see if you stayed accurate.
Sight-singing is the one exercise in this book where I encourage you to come out of key, and actually works best if you travel freely through all 12 chromatic notes at random. The trick when doing this is to focus on one interval at a time. You must completely forget about the past, as any previous notes lingering on in your memory will distract you from the interval at hand:
Be creative - you can make sight-singing as easy or as Sight-singing can also be practiced away from your
challenging as you like. For example, you could sing
instrument - while walking, doing the dishes, or in the
arpeggiated chord progressions (breaking each chord into
shower. Of course you can’t check your answer at your
individual notes). Here’s how I would sing a ii - V - I chord
instrument, but you tend to know whether you’re right or
progression in C major, by arpeggiating each chord:
wrong. Here are some sample sight-singing melodies to get you started:
And here’s a melody you could sing to ingrain the 6 priority intervals:
As a composer, I compose mostly away from my instrument. I’ll find myself humming something, and will start to question what I’m actually singing. So there’s a fine line between sight-singing and composing - the 2 are very similar.
intervals is the easiest part, and feels intuitive - you don’t THE
STEPPING-STONE
method
have to give much thought to it. However, there will be times when you need to identify an interval with 100% precision - for example, when you’re
RELAXED PRECISION
When tracking a melody’s movement, you do not have to identify every single interval with 100% precision - that would be a ton of work and would take all enjoyment out of transcribing mus ic by ear. The truth is that on ce you’ve identified where the melody is within the scale, you can identify intervals with ‘relaxed precision ’. You’re just following it as it moves about through the 7 notes -
not certain which notes are being played, you’re still testing out theories, and can’t do the intuitive relaxed interval tracking. Or if a melody breaks out of the 7 note key and does something more complex, you’ll need to identify where it went by measuring the size of the leap with 100 % precisi on. Typically, I might have to iden tify 1 - 2 intervals in an entire song with 100% precision. And when I need to do that, this what I do:
running up and down the scale mostly with a few small
BRIDGING THE GAP
leaps. Say that you hear a tension note resolve down a
If I need extra help identifying an interval in a melody with
half-step, which can only be F - E - this tells you where
100% precision, I’ll use what I call the ‘stepping-stone
the melody is within the scale. Now when E moves up a
method’:
3rd, you know it’s moved to G - you don’t have to get bogged down with whether it moved by a major 3rd or a minor 3rd - your knowledge of scale tells you that E - G = minor 3rd. Or when G moves up a step, you know it’s moved to A - you don’t have to get bogged down with whether it moved by a whole-step or a half-step. So when you know where the melody is within the scale, tracking
Sing back the 2 notes you’re working on a few times, then bridge the gap between those notes by adding a note inbetween, breaking the interval in 2. Measure these 2 smaller intervals separately, and then add them together to workout the complete interval.
For example, say you want to identify the interval in the
Or say that you want to identify the interval in ‘Riders On
first 3 notes of Gershwin’s ‘Summertime’ with 100%
The Storm’ by the Doors with 100% precision:
precision:
Sing back both notes repeatedly - ‘Riders On The - Riders Sing back both notes repeatedly - ‘Su - mmer - Su - mmer
On The - Riders On The’. It sounds like some sort of 3rd,
- Su - mmer’. Now place a note in-between those notes -
but to distinguish whether it’s a major 3rd or a minor
try singing up a whole-step from the bottom note. From
3rd, we can use a stepping-stone. Again, lets sing up a
that middle note you’ll find you only have to sing up
whole-step from the bottom note, and see how much
another whole-step to reach the top note:
further we need to go to reach the top note:
Whole-step + Whole-step = Major 3rd
Whole-step + half-step = Minor 3rd FINDING THE 5 TH
I’ll often double-check a 5th (to make sure it’s not a 4th, which sounds similar), by singing up a major or minor chord - both add up to a 5th:
up the scale in step, adding up the whole-steps and halfsteps to find the complete interval.
For example, in Louis Armstrong’s ‘What A Wonderful World’ (click to listen), each verse starts with a pretty big leap - “I see Trees - of - Green”, “Skies of Blue”, etc. It sounds like a 5th but to double-check, I’ll see if I can sing up a major triad from bottom note - top note, to be sure:
Whole-step + Whole-step + Half-step = 4th And since most melodies never jump beyond a 5th in a single leap, you’ll probably only have to sing 2 or 3 notes in step.
QUESTIONS Look at the following stepping-stone combinations and workout the complete interval for each: CHOOSING YOUR PATH
1. minor 3rd + major 3rd
Of course the stepping-stone method requires you to
2. 5th - half-step
know some intervals first for it to work, but the beauty is
3. whole-step + minor 3rd
you get to choose your path, so you can stick to intervals you’re confident with. Say for example you only knew the
4. octave - half-step
whole-step and half-step - well you could resort to singing
5. major 3rd + minor 3rd + whole-step
ANSWERS: 1. 5th 2. tritone (b5th / #4th) 3. 4th 4. major 7th 5. major 6th
C O U N T R Y S O N G S highway don’t care tim mcgraw
JAZZ summertime george Gershwin
( melody)
crash my party luke bryan
in the mood glenn miller
sure be cool if you did blake shelton
pure imagination jamie cullum
somewhere with you kenny chesney
don’t stop the music jamie cullum
rewind rascal flatts
save your soul jamie cullum
cop car keith urban
what a wonderful world louis armstrong
whatever she’s got david na il
cantaloupe island herbie hancock
CLASSICAL ca non in d pachelbel four seasons recomposed max richter infra 5 max richter the nature of daylight max richter yearning mark bradshaw
ROCK SONGS
60’S 70’S 80’S SONGS
miss you rolling stones
Money Pink Floyd
When You Were Young The Killers
learning to fly Pink Floyd
heaven Bryan Adams
rhiannon fleetwood mac
Every Breath You Take The Police
Lean On Me Bill Withers
Wonderwall Oasis
Ain’t No Sunshine Bill Withers
Brave New World Iron Maiden
In The Air Tonight Phil Collins
I Want To Break Free Queen
Another Day In Paradise Phil Collins
Beautiful Day U2
Broken Wings Mr Mister
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For U2
out of touch hall
& oates
don’t stop believing journey
miracle of love eurythmics
maria blondie
Let it Be The Beatles Hey Jude The Beatles band on the run paul mccartney Into The Mystic Van Morrison
R’N’B SONGS My Love Is Your Love Whitney Houston It’s Not Right But It’s Okay Whitney Houston
u remind me Usher Confessions Part II Usher Halo Beyonce Bartender T-Pain Rock Your Body Justin Timberlake
