Learning Intervals with “Happy Birthday”
I've found (like many others before me) that it's helpful to have a song to reference in your head when you're learning the musical intervals (a great example is how "here comes" in "here comes the bride" is a perfect 4th.)
This lead me to the idea that it would be good to reference a melody that everyone knows to help memorize the intervals that are in that melody. This is my first attempt at putting this idea to work.
The song I'm using is "Happy Birthday" which is arguably the most well known melody in the world so I think it should do the trick.
For my example version I decided to have the first note be a C (which puts the song in the key of F) as that makes it easy to follow.
The first two notes ("hap-py") are on C and then the third note is a D ("birth.") This is a major 2nd interval. The melody then goes back down to a C ("day") before climbing up a perfect 4th to F ("to") and then dropping to an E (which from the perspective of the starting note C is a major 3rd.)
The second time through the "to you" lyric is sang higher. It's a G to an F which is a perfect 5th to a perfect 4th from the starting note ("hap-py" is always a C throughout the song.)
The third (and final) time through the "birth" in "birth-day" isn't a major 2nd up to a D like it is the first two times through, instead it's a leap up to an A which is a major 6th up.
Hopefully you are able to get something out of using "Happy Birthday" as an interval reference. I'm including a video I've put together today as a guide below.
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Tags: Ear Training, Music Theory
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