Is it rare to have a melody interval leap of more than an octave?

Jeez, I can't believe I've worked with Melody for a couple of years and never knew she had such an angelic singing voice! I guess it's just as well that we don't burst into song at the office, as a rule.

Nice podcast, yo. Fun banter, lovely singing.

And a bit of a flashback for me to those nasty ear-training tests in my college music theory classes. I remember very clearly sitting in the classroom and sounding out "There's a place for us" and "Maria" in my head to test the intervals before committing my test answer to paper. Eek.

Hey guys, this is a great episode, because it's such a fundamentally important skill as a musician. Love the examples of tunes that use the intervals, there's a few there that never occurred to me. However, your examples for an Octave and a Major 7th are exactly the same, Over The Rainbow certainly does NOT have a leap of a Major 7th at the beginning.

They are the same, because the only major-seventh examples we could think of were hitting the octave first, then descending to the major seventh (which Over The Rainbow does, as do Starman and Bali Ha'i).

Thanks, though, Clifton! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Pianologist: I'd say it's rare to leap more than an octave in a sung melody. I can't think of a single example of it... can you?

In general, sung melodies in popular (that is non-classical/concert music) don't leap more than an octave in the course of a musical phrase, because it would be uncomfortable or difficult to sing (and listen to). Most people don't have that kind of range in their voices; even an octave leap often requires a singer to switch registers, making the timbre/color of each note noticeably different. You might find such a large leap between phrases, though. The first phrase could end pretty low, and then the next could begin more than an octave higher. That's easier for a singer to pull off, because there's time to breathe and switch gears mentally/physically. We'll be getting deeper into these ideas in the next episode on melodic construction.

I love it, brilliant idea to use mnemonic type references to unlock interval recognition, more please! Melody you have a great voice.

What about writing a song that is entertaining but also works its way around the intervals as if it were a study, perhaps incorporating the references to the songs above? Sort of like "Doe a deer" but with a bit of swing. There's a challenge for you :)
Or does something like that already exist?

Thanks, Damian! I don't know if such a song already exists, but it should. I've actually had the same idea, but I've been too daunted by the task to write it myself. Your request is definitely a new motivation to get on it. Maybe it'll appear in a future podcast!

This site is great. It is word for word what my music teacher taught us all in high school! The one noticeable difference is the major third examples. We used "DOE a DEER, a FE-MALE deer" from The Sound of Music.

Thanks for the reference! And great job adding the visual references on the piano; it definitely helps a self-taught pianist like me to visualize the intervals more easily!

PS. Lucia I know exactly how you feel during those theory tests singing to yourself! =)

Such a great episode. Melody has a great voice. And she was the first person I met at Pandora, even before I took my interview of the place. :) I love all the examples you use to further explain the interval changes. Well done!

Kevin, Awesome job on this podcast. And if you can't memorize all the steps, just finding a song in your head to connect the steps with until you get to a piano works too. I also love how you catagorized the lessons, and I just discovered how you did the musical terms and lessons they're introduced in. That is so cool. Thanks for all the great work. We music people really love learning new stuff new ways.

Another (slightly unhinged) example of a major seventh interval is the opening line of Led Zeppelin's 'Immigrant Song'. Like the other examples mentioned, it jumps to the octave and drops down a half step.

pandora, your amazing this podcast hit the spot for me,as a musician ive forgotten some of this theory and also learned something new thank you

Really love the whole podcast series, this one being no exception. I can only subscribe to Stan McClain's words - I listen to your podcasts on my way to and back from work and find them to be a a great way of jogging my memory on those essential music facts. So, thanks Kevin for a great series and thank you Pandora for providing the format! (Can't wait until I can use your "normal" services here in old Europe, BTW)

Cheers,
Eddy

Lynbrook: "Doe! A deer!" Yes yes, perfect for the major third. I'll add it to the list, thanks.

Luke: Same for Immigrant Song on the major seventh. Good call.

Andy, Stan, Eddy, SSRB: Thanks for the kind words. It's heartwarming to hear that you're digging the show. We'll keep making them.

Wow! A brilliant return to the audio podcasts! Thanks to Kevin and the team.

A bit geeky, I know, but I've always remembered the minor sixth interval from the opening notes of the Klingon theme song in "Star Trek - The Motion Picture". I believe that's a Jerry Goldsmith tune. I'm sure it's not the first tune to leap to your minds when you're looking for a minor sixth. Like I said: it's a bit geeky.

Nice, nice. I do think of the "Star Trek" main title theme when I try to remember the minor seventh, but hadn't considered that Klingon theme from the first film for the minor sixth. Geeky is welcomed here, Josh!

Great! I'd like to see similar lists:

1. Something to help identify notes. You can put together a list of sample songs where the starting note is each note in an octave.

2. Something to help identify the key a song is written in. You can put together another list of sample songs for each key.

I love your podcast series, and now especially this one with examples of intervals. I try to do something like this to figure out melodies until I can get to my keyboard. Can't carry a tune for love or money, which means that playing by ear is more of a challenge, but being familiar with intervals helps.

Wikipedia claims that the first two notes of "Take On Me" by a-Ha are major sevenths.

John and Wikipedia, thank you! That's absolutely right. The chorus of "Take on Me" does in fact begin with a major seventh. It doesn't step down from the octave, as do the examples we listed. Where on Wikipedia did you find that?

Yes yes yes. I LOVE that we have such intelligent listeners.

I just added "Take On Me," "Do-Re-Mi (i.e. 'Doe, a deer')," and "Immigrant Song."

Any others we're missing?

I actually found it here: http://tinyurl.com/f69e7 (Scroll down to "From Wikipedia: Intervals of Songs") The list appears to have been edited out of the Wikipedia article.

where to download full versions of those songs. with just short samples you gave, i can't remember their intervals, i need to know the whole songs. anyway, that's great to know this website.

Another excellent example of an ascending major 7th leading off a tune is "Don't Know Why" by Norah Jones. I haven't yet read the entire thread. Perhaps someone else already mentioned it. Thanks for the series!

I just found this today and I have been listening to Pandora for months. Are there other episodes? I am a musician and this one helped me refresh a lot of the music theory that I have learned. Some one mentioned how about an episode To identify Song Key and To help identify notes. But Identifying notes seems to be more of years of exposure. But for Don I think his name was, One thing that helps me Identify notes are car horns. They are tuned to the note F. I can't go a day with out hearing a horn. From there I can figure out notes.

But years of playing and singing helps me a lot too.

Great Voice Melody, and a great name to go with it.

Cheers,
Rodney

Ah, of course! That's a great example, because it's fresh in everyone's memory.
Thanks for pointing it out, Neal.

Nice one, Neal -- Just added "Don't Know Why."

Rodney! Welcome! There are many, many episodes. Check out the "Pandora Presents... Home Page" at the top of this page to see the full list.

Or, if you'd prefer to cut and paste the URL for future reference, it is www.pandora.com/show

Thanks for listening!

thanks! as a singer, i found this to be such a great refresher course. gets me inspired to brush up my theory skills to improve my song writing.

i was also inspired by the trekkies to share some geekiness of my own. i did a lot of musicals in school, and i always remember the minor 6th by the song "close every door to me" in joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat. the first two notes of the phrase are the minor 6th: "CLOSE EV-ery door to me, KEEP THOSE i love from me.." (thanks, mr. lacasce :)

hope that helps all those musical theater geeks out there!

Cool! Glad to hear that this got you inspired, Leah.

"Close Every Door." Yes, good suggestion. I just added it to the examples section above.

Thanks indeed, Mr. Lacasce.

Keep 'em coming, folks! Wiki-examples, I love it.

I had to stop it in the middle because i had to step away from the computer... nice to know there is no pause feature. im still contemplating whether i should start over or not. considering i cant fast forward either.

Hi, Stick,

Thanks for listening -- how about downloading the episode? That way you can pause, fast forward, rewind, or skip around in the MP3 file using whatever audio program you prefer. It's a free download, too.

Cheers,
Kevin

Wow. That was great Melody! I can't wait to hear more from you!! I don't know how you do it--think up a song and just sing. A miraculous gift.

I'd love to see you create a desktop icon so it wouldn't be so difficult to open Pandora. It's a great web site and I love the variety of music, but it's rather difficult to open.
Thanks for what you do. Bob

no. Melody recorded her singing first. not think up a song and sing or it would be out of tune.they did say above. right? i find it easier to remember intervals with her singing than with orginal songs. but if she sing longer part because those songs are new to me. anyway. i love this episode and love the song Catacombs & steeples played at beginning a lot Melody. thank Google for giving me this site while i'm searching some stuff for my assignment about music theory. i'm looking forwards for new episodes and sorry for my messy English (i'm from Vietnam :) )

You're right, Quyen. I didn't think of those examples on the spot. We did a bunch of preparation beforehand, and Kevin did an excellent job of editing to make the episode run smoothly. I'm sorry we couldn't include longer bits of each song; it's a matter of copyright royalties. Thanks for the encouragement, everyone!

That was a fun podcast. It brought me back to my days in musicianship class. I really like that "Catacombs and Steeples" song at the beginning of the podcast. I followed the link to Melody's
website so I could listen to the whole thing. It sounds wonderful. Beautiful song, great singing, great orchestration! Can't wait to hear what you'll do with it in the next podcast. The website looks fantastic too!

on a plane I most likely will have a Laptop or MP3 player that has a voice recorder on it that I hum and beatbox into. Fruityloops is a great great easier way to get down music ideas without having to know Jack about music. I have tried to learn music for years to no avail, but made some hum-dingers with FLstudio{fruityloops} . I'm sure there are other programs out there too now,cheap{free},easy and with 100s of instruments,effects,knobs and whistles=D. I hear there are apps for your phone now! Love to hear an episode for beginner laptop music production.

I just got DSL two days ago, and one of the first things I did with it was go to Pandora. I heard about it from a friend, so I knew I had to check it out when I got DSL.

AndI had no idea there are also podcasts and music theory programs! This is great!

I've been taking voice lessons for almost five years now, and decided it *might* be kind of useful to learn music theory last year. So I'm really grateful I found this.

Thanks, Allen! Check out Melody's site if you want to hear more of 'Catacombs and Steeples,' eh?

Han808 = happy to hear your plane-composition solution. For some reason, humming melodies or singing under my breath right next to fellow passengers makes me weirdly uncomfortable. I'm shy, I guess. But I'm glad that works for you.

Beginner laptop music production... good idea for a show. Thanks, I'll make note of it.

Quinn! Glad you're liking it. I hope your voice lessons (and the new theory studies) are going well.

This is great, I love this site already, presenting me with new artists I've never heard of, and now podcasts concerning music theory, just great, this will be so useful since im taking music theory right now. Thanks Pandora!!

Excellent, Danny! I'm glad you found us. Good luck with your class.

Here's one to add to your collection - a falling diminished 7th.

I know of two easy-to-remember examples:

And with HIS STRIPES from Handel's Messiah

Requiem E-TERnam from Mozart's Requiem

You don't come across the interval so often, but when you do and you're sightreading, it really helps to have these in your head!!

Kevin,

A jump of more than an octave occurs in "Hen-ry! Henry Aldrich" - Mrs. Aldrich's call that opened each episode of the oldtime radio show "The Aldrich Family." The interval from the first "Hen" to the "ry" is a major 7th above the octave (I believe}. It is not from a tune, but if you have heard this signature intro a few times it definitely sticks in your head. The Wikipedia entry for "Aldrich Family" has more info and links to free audio. You can hear it about 10 seconds into each episode.

Kemp

Just heard a performance of the Bach Motet Komm Jesu Komm. Another diminished 7th to add to the collection : Der SAU-RE Weg

OK that's enough of those

For the descending minor seventh, one could sing up a whole step and then take that note down the octave. It's an extra step in the process but it works for me.

I'm desperate for a falling major seventh. are there any out there? wikipedia says "i love you" by bing crosby but i can't find the cd anywhere with that track.

What about all of these intervals descending?? It would be a good thing to put those up there too :D You'd make my life a whole lot easier PLEAASEEE!!

Great series. I listened to all 8 episodes today, but I had to download the episodes. Clicking "Listen Now" changes the button to yellow, but I don't hear any audio. Also, the Reggae episode cuts off at 7:37. I look forward to listening to the next episode. Thanks!

Richard! Your descending-interval suggestions are all great. Thanks for adding those to the stew.

Cinnamint, I wish I had an easy list for those descending intervals; they are definitely trickier.

Might other listeners have others to suggest, for the smaller intervals?

Melody,
I am so enchanted by your voice, you are just so amazing, your are a multifaceted artist, I'm so glad to have been introduced to your music.

What about all of these intervals descending?? It would be a good thing to put those up there too :D You'd make my life a whole lot easier PLEAASEEE!!

THANK YOU

Thanks this pod cast was a big help with an ear training test I had and I'm using it again for one in the morning.

I used to know my intervals this way back in high school. It works! Even better--I learned solfege (do re mi..), and teach it to my students. That way you get more than intervals, you get scale function too. Stormy Weather in my head is " ri mi so--- ri mi so mi so fi fa ri mi so so,......fa, la, do re re mi do" the verse ends on the tonal center. This also works on a plane or wherever, and is an amazing tool for sight singing. My sister has perfect pitch. When I learned solfege, it leveled the field, and I can read as well as she can.
Kudos on your wonderful work--getting people talking about how to learn music! Excellent.

Thanks, Melody, this is great. And thanks for being an accordion hero, too. And a tip of the hat to Pandora for hosting Melody and this fine resource.

Just thought i'll let you know my bonnie on maj 6th interval is the wrong part of the song. The song does not sing...over the ocean. Good info though. Thanks
Sean

Thanks, now I understand what a minor second is.

good site!

Gut!

Thank you very very good

Such a great episode. Melody has a great voice. And she was the first person I met at Pandora, even before I took my interview of the place. :) I love all the examples you use to further explain the interval changes. Well done!

Congratulations on your nice site

a very good article da a very useful information ..thank you has to share this information.

I am grateful to you for this great content.

Melody,
I am so enchanted by your voice, you are just so amazing, your are a multifaceted artist, I'm so glad to have been introduced to your music.

no. Melody recorded her singing first. not think up a song and sing or it would be out of tune.they did say above. right? i find it easier to remember intervals with her singing than with orginal songs. but if she sing longer part because those songs are new to me. anyway. i love this episode and love the song Catacombs & steeples played at beginning a lot Melody. thank Google for giving me this site while i'm searching some stuff for my assignment about music theory. i'm looking forwards for new episodes and sorry for my messy English (i'm from Vietnam :) )

Really love the whole podcast series, this one being no exception. I can only subscribe to Stan McClain's words - I listen to your podcasts on my way to and back from work and find them to be a a great way of jogging my memory on those essential music facts. So, thanks Kevin for a great series and thank you Pandora for providing the format! (Can't wait until I can use your "normal" services here in old Europe, BTW)

Where was this when I was sitting in Music Theory 101.
I can't believe you don't have more social links on these pages so I can get my students to these pages more easily.

where can find moe

thank youuu

Thank you very much for everything