I feel a car salesman Hi, this is Rick beato. Welcome to
everything music. This is ear training 101. Ear training so what's so important
about having a good ear. Well if i look at music like this. I know it sounds like this. Being able to do
this will allow you to learn any piece of music without a reference tone. It's great for sight reading,
improvisation, analysis or just learning your favorite songs by ear. Okay, what are intervals? An interval is
the distance or difference between two pitches. There are two types of intervals. The
first is known as a harmonic interval. That's two notes played simultaneously.
The second is a melodic interval or two notes played separately. Now the smallest interval we use in
western music is the semi -tone or the half step. Now intervals are described by two
properties. The quality. Whether it's perfect, major, minor, augmented and
diminished. And the number unison, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth
etc. The number of the interval is the number of letter names at the interval
spans. For example, C and G is a fifth because it spans five letter names, C D E
F G, five. This distance is also based on counting the number of lines and spaces
on the musical staff. The quality of an interval is represented by the terms
perfect, major, minor, augmented and diminished. Perfect intervals, if they're
raised by half step, become augmented. If they're lowered by a half step, it becomes
diminished. Now another feature of perfect intervals
is that if they are inverted, they remain perfect intervals. A perfect fifth
inverted becomes a perfect fourth and vice versa. A perfect fourth inverted
becomes a perfect fifth. Minor and major intervals can become diminished or
augmented but never perfect. We'll talk about that more later. Now
this may seem really complicated to begin with, but as we get more into chord
and scale construction it will become easier for you to
understand. So why is interval recognition so important to ear training? Well, since intervals of the building
blocks of all music, your ability to recognize them is a key element of
understanding what you're actually hearing when you're listening to a piece
of music. Okay, so how do we begin to learn to hear
and identify these intervals? Well I like to start with dyads. A dyad
is a two note chord. Okay, this would be a dyad. That is a major third interval- the notes
C and E. What I want you to be able to do is
simply sing the two notes that I'm playing. Now, this to many of you would
be easy, but you would be surprised that many people find this difficult. My daughter Lennon is not one of them Can you sing these notes baby? Very good about these two? Excellent! Neither is my son Dylan. what are these two notes Dylan? G and D. How about these two? He's another story altogether. Let's back up for a second and talk
about the aural characteristics of intervals. In the consonant category
perfect fifths and octaves we call open countenances. Major and minor thirds
and sixths are called soft consonances. In the dissonant category. Minor sevenths and major seconds are called mild dissonances and minor seconds and major 7ths are
sharp dissonances. The perfect fourth is either characterized as a consonant or
distant interval depending on its function and the tritone which is an
augmented fourth or diminished fifth is either neutral or restless. The first
intervals I like to teach people to begin hearing are the perfect intervals. They're actually the easiest to identify;
the first being the octave or the perfect eighth. Okay that is a perfect eighth interval
or an octave. Okay, it's E to C. The second interval is the perfect fifth. That is a common interval when we're
dealing with triadic units. ok for example a c-major chord the two
outer notes C and G form a perfect fifth dyad or perfect interval played melodically. Now all
different types of triads like major, minor, sus4, sus2 all have a perfect fifth as
its outer notes. The perfect fourth interval is a little bit trickier
because of the sound of it. The perfect fourth interval can either be
consonant or dissonant depending on how it's used in context. Okay, I'll give you
an example. A perfect fourth is part of a second inversion major triad okay like this is a second inversion F
major triad see a perfect fourth interval and a major third major third
on top. (plays interval) Okay, so in that case it's were very stable sounding but if I used to C suspended four, like
that, you would want to hear it resolve down. It would have a natural
tendency to resolve down because it's acting as a dissonance. yeah how many of you have ever tuned a guitar
by using harmonics I have my A string here - now I'm going
to tune the D string at the 7th fret to the harmonic of the 5th fret of the A
string. Hear that beating, that wavering? Well listen as I get closer. The beating stops. The more in tune you
are the less beating there is. When the note is perfectly in tune, the beating
comes to a halt. Strong consonances have less beating. They are very stable. That's why an octave is very stable
sounding. The next intervals I'd like to move to are the
sharp dissonances. The minor second and the major seventh. Okay, this is a minor second
or C to Db. Okay, that is a half step or semi tone. Now, the rub that you hear is the beating of
those harmonics together are what gives it its characteristic sound. That is a minor second. Okay, this is a
major 7 you heard it play me play it for Lennon
earlier. Bah Bah, the large distance between the two notes and the dissonace
of it should help you be able to recognize it. Okay, mild dissonances, the major second and
minor 7th are in that category So why are they mild distances? Well,
with the minor second you hear that really fast fluttering between the
intervals. The major second has fluttering but it's slower. The waves
are moving slower. The dissonance is the dissonance is less
than it is. Same thing between a major seventh, which has the fast beating between intervals and then the minor 7th is a little bit slower.
Well, it should be pretty easy to tell the difference between these two because a major second and a minor 7th are very
far apart. The major second dyad here are the first two notes of a major scale.
So think of it like this. mmm and yeah that's the sound you're looking for the
minor 7 is the sound of the Star Trek theme. The original one, but you guys probably
don't know that. A dominant 7th chord is actually called a major minor 7th chord
because it's a major triad with a minor 7th interval the top. But most people
call it a dominant 7th chord. Let's talk about major and minor thirds
and sixths. These are called soft consonances. All right, the major third, in this case C to E are the
first two notes of a major triad the first which is the C and then the third which is E and then
the fifth is G. We already talked about that perfect fifth interval but this is
the note that fills in it. This determines the quality of the chord.
here in a major triad- that third. So, a major third are the first two notes- the
root and the third of a major tried - so major third. That sound. There is an F. Here it is in G. back in C. Okay that was major their interval. The
minor third interval are the first two tones in a minor triad. or in the key of F it would be this F and A flat is a minor third. There i
completed the minor triad. You should start to orient yourself with
those major and minor triads to hear the major and minor third. Okay, so how do you hear these sixth
intervals? The major sixth in this case C to A. Many people for this interval when I
was growing up would use my "Bonnie lies over the Ocean" Okay. S,. a major sixth. I'll play them together. Now the minor sixth interval has a little darker sound. Okay? It wants to
resolve down to the fifth in some instances. Now many people will use a first
inversion triad in order to hear that. If i take A flat
major chord in this case. I play it in first inversion, meaning
this C is the lowest note C, E flat, A flat. Between these two outer notes I have a minor sixth interval. Okay, once again there's your root position there's your first inversion and between these outer voices you have a
minor 6 interval. Listen. So if I hear this (sings) That's a good way of hearing that minor
6 interval. The major sixth you can do a similar thing but you do it
with a second inversion triad. Okay? In this case we're going to use F
major. Here's your root position. First inversion, meaning with the A as the
lowest note and the second inversion means that C is the lowest note. There's your major six interval. bomg bomg, bomg. So remember. With six intervals take your major triads and use the first
inversion, meaning with the third as the lowest note, for your minor 6 interval so
between the outer voices you have a minor sixth. And with a major triad in
2nd inversion use your outer voices which will give you a major 6th interval. Well we saved the best for last the
tritone otherwise known as an augmented fourth or diminished fifth. Here we have C and F sharp or C and G flat. C to F sharp would be an augmented fourth. C to G flat would be a diminished fifth. This has a natural resolution tendency to
either resolve outward or inward. In this case, it can resolve like this The C can resolve down to a B and
F sharp resolves up to G so you can also have it resolved in word
for example in a C7 chord. Okay, the C7 has an E is its third and B
flat as flat 7. Those two notes are going to resolve in to the F and A of an F
major chord so listen this or in that case they contract. Okay, let's talk about the concepts
discussed in today's episode. We talked about the sonic signatures of intervals.
Whether they are sharp or mild dissonances, open or soft consonances. The
consonances or dissonance of the perfect fourth interval and the restless nature
of the tritone. We also worked on singing harmonic intervals or dyads. That's all
for now. Stay tuned for much more in depth talks and analysis of ear
training. Please subscribe to my channel to hear
about all of our latest videos and content. I'm Rick Beato.
