- Up to now, in all the sight-singing exercises you have done, notes have moved only one step at a time in a vertical direction:
- In other words, movement in single steps of the scale up or down.
- However, all real music has jumps as well as steps; so this is the next challenge, to be able to sight-sing simple jumps in pitch.
- An interval, when talking about musical notes, means the pitch gap between two notes.
- We measure the interval by the number of steps between the two notes on the stave:
- It's also the number of steps on the scale, since a scale occupies each consecutive position on the stave.
- The only catch is that we count inclusively, that is, the start and end positions are counted as well as the ones in between.
- Here's our trusty scale of C major on the treble clef stave, and a number of intervals are marked in:
- So we say there an interval of a fourth between the first and fourth notes of this scale (C and F).
- This doesn't mean there are four notes between the two - there are actually only two, but we count the start and end as well, making four.
- It makes more sense when you see that there is an interval of a second between the first two notes (C and D).
- So an interval of a second is what we have been calling a single step - you should be confident in singing these already.
- To sing an interval of a third, between the first note and the third note on the scale above, C to E, do the following:
- Sing the first three notes of the scale like this - try it on your own;
- Then do the same thing but leave out the middle note, sing it only in your head - like this - try it yourself;
- Now do it a little faster like this - and you are singing an interval of a third.
- To sing an interval of a fourth, between the first and the fourth notes on the scale above, C to F, do the same things:
- Sing the first four notes of the scale like this;
- Then leave out the two middle notes - like this;
- Now get faster until you can sing the two notes next to each other like this.
- It comes down to remembering the first note.
- Try the same for an interval of a fifth and sixth:
- They are not marked on the scale above, but it should be obvious what they are;
- Don't try a seventh - that is hard and anyway quite unusual in music.
- Not all jumps (intervals) start on the key note of the scale, you can measure the interval between any two notes on the stave or scale:
- To sing, for example, the interval of a third that is between the third and fifth notes of the scale above (E to G) you need to:
- Sing the scale from the bottom, proceed through the lower note of the two and up to the higher note like this;
- Then leave out the notes below the lower note of the two like this;
- Then, as before, leave out the note(s) between the top and bottom ones like this;
- And finally, speed up and get the top and bottom notes together like this.
- The first step is most important - you have to start in the correct place in the scale:
- If the lower note of an interval is not the key note, you must not start singing a scale on it;
- If you do, you will not necessarily get the correct interval.
- When you get more confident, this will come naturally, from knowing the key note and scale of the piece you are singing at the time.
- If we combine two of the jumps we have already tried, from the first to the third, and then to the fifth, we get a triad:
- A major triad is the first, third, and fifth notes of the major scale;
- You should already be familiar with singing the triad, so you may want to go back and sing some again, now that you know more about what it is.
- The triad is very important in sight-singing - it occurs very fequently in almost all styles of music.
- So now let's try some sight-reading including simple intervals:
- This first one contains two easy examples of the interval of a third I have just described;
- Before you start, sing a scale to yourself (it doesn't really matter what note you start on) and count to four slowly;
- As you get to the note before the jump, try to "hear" the missing note in your head before you sing the higher one.
- Alternatively (or better, additionally), notice that three of the four notes in the first bar form the triad (C, E, G)
- So you can sing the triad and put in the extra second note (D).
- Also notice that the second and third bars are almost the same as the first and second bars, but up one note (this is called a sequence)
- If you are unsure about any of this, you can hear the whole thing here.
- This one contains two jumps, one straight after the other (twice), but the first three notes are the triad, so should be easy to sing:
- Again, notice that the third bar is exactly the same as the first, but up one note.
- Patterns are very important in music.
- Also notice that it finishes on the key note an octave above the one it started on.
hear it
- This one has downwards jumps of an interval of a third in the second and fourth bars:
- You can do these in perhaps three ways:
- Either as above, by singing the missing note in your head;
- Or remember the note that you sang three notes earlier;
- Or notice that it is two notes of the triad;
- If you can do two or even three of these, you are much more likly to be sure of being correct! ("the belt and braces" technique).
- In bar 4, the notes are the same as in bar 2, so you might remember them from when you sang them 2 bars earlier.
- Memory is very important in sight-singing!
hear it
- This one starts on a note which is not the key note and immediately jumps up an interval of a third:
- But these are the second and third note of the triad, you just have to make sure you start on the correct one.
- Notice that the second bar is the same as the first, but one note up.
- There is also a jump of an interval of a fourth in the third bar:
- This is a junp to the top note of the scale (the key note) you have practised this;
- So again you can use two techniques at once - this will help confirm that you get to the correct note.
- The jump to the very last note is to the same key note.
hear it
