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Ear Training Intervals Virtually everybody who studies ear training practises recognising Intervals, and for good reason - they are one of the fundamental building blocks of music! An interval is best described as 'the distance between two notes' and they are expressed as either a number of semitones or more commonly by a descriptive name. Example: The distance between C and the first E that is higher is: 4 semitones or a 'Major Third' (the 'third' bit comes from there being three letters in the distance C, D & E) So, why are they fundamental to music? Answer: you can derive both melody and harmony from them. If you play a string of intervals one after the other you will get a tune (melody) and if you play a string of intervals all at the same time you will get a chord (harmony)
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here for a full list of intervals supported by PET Top tips for practising intervals with PET* Start with just a few intervals (eg. perfect unison, perfect 5th and perfect octave) and then gradually add new intervals, one by one. A good initial milestone is to be able to recognise the intervals that make up a major scale - perfect unison, major 2nd, major 3rd, perfect 4th, perfect 5th, major 6th, major 7th, and perfect octave. * At first just practice intervals ascending. As you improve introduce descending and then harmonic intervals. * Concentrate on the 'simple' intervals (simple intervals are those up
to and including an octave). Compound intervals (greater than an octave)
can always be expressed in terms of a simple interval and also sound similar.
Example: a 'Major 9th' is the equivalent of an 'Octave plus a Major 2nd'
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