In this episode of Vocal Tips in 10, I’m diving into one of the most foundational (and fun!) tools for singers: interval training.
We’ll focus on the intervals of the major scale, and I’ll walk you through a simple, effective song crutch for each one. These crutches make it easy to recognize and remember each interval—helping you improve your pitch accuracy, strengthen your ear training, and unlock better vocal harmonies in everything you sing.
Whether you’re just getting started or brushing up on your musicianship skills, this quick guide will give you practical tools you can use today to grow as a confident, well-rounded singer.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
2:06 – Detailed Breakdown of All Major Scale Intervals
7:05 – Recap and Application of Intervals
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Hello singers and welcome to vocal tips in 10. I am psyched for today's episode because I'm gonna be sharing with you what I find to be the quickest and easiest and most effective way to lock in your intervals. and today I'm gonna be specifically talking about the intervals of the major scale. I'm gonna be giving you a song crutch. That's a song that you know well.
where you can think about the first two notes of the song in almost all cases, and that gives you your interval. So why is this helpful to you? Being able to hear and recognize intervals really quickly, recreate intervals, majorly uplevels your singing in a number of ways. Number one, to be a great singer, you need to have great listening skills. This is ear training, you guys. It's strengthening your ear so you can start to hear things and know what you're hearing.
It creates more pitch accuracy and consistency in your singing when you work through these intervals, It is so huge for harmony. All harmony is built off of intervals. And just in case anybody is thinking, okay, what's an interval? All that means is the distance between two pitches. The intervals of the major scale are a perfect first, which is unison, a major second, a major third, a perfect fourth,
a perfect fifth, a major sixth, a major seventh, and a perfect eighth or a perfect octave. And when I give you these song crutches, somebody can give you any note. And you can immediately find those intervals using these song crutches. I love them because you can look like a vocal genius or a musical genius when people don't know this hat.
because it looks like, my gosh, you just have such a killer ear. Your understanding of theory and is just so rock solid that you know all your intervals. and I will tell you, I went to Berklee College of Music. I have done so much training in voice and ear training and music theory. Just ad nauseum.
And still, if I am working on harmony for myself or I'm producing another vocalist and somebody says to me, hey, give me the fifth above that, Amber, I always go to these song crutches.
So we're gonna start with a perfect first, unison. I'm recording this in November. The holidays are coming up, so this song is very appropriate. Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle, that is a unison note. Unison is a perfect first. A major second, you know what? I'm gonna stick with a holiday theme. Silent night, sigh is a major second. A major third.
song that I always go to. Kumbaya my lord, kumbaa is a major third. Another one I love for a major third. Owen the Saints, Owen is a major third. Again, if somebody gives you any note, all you have to do is think about these songs, the first two notes of the song, and you've got those intervals locked in.
Next up is a perfect fourth for me. Here comes the bride. Here comes is a perfect fourth. A fifth, this is one we should all know. Twinkle, twinkle little star. Twinkle, twinkle is a major fifth. Now some of you might be like, Amber, these aren't cool songs, right? These are lame songs. Here comes the bride.
But this isn't about songs that you love or songs that are trending. It's about songs That you can think of without having to think about it. I'm telling you, if somebody says to me, me the fifth above that, Amber, I just immediately think whatever pitch they give me, twinkle twinkle. And they're like, man, she has got such a killer ear. And I do have a very good ear. But these song crutches are a huge part.
of my strategy. now I can do it really quickly. I can boom, come up with an interval without really having to think about it. But when I reverse engineer it and think, okay, how did I get to that so quickly? These are what I go to. a major sixth, NBC for the NBC network.
Another one that probably shows my age but, my bunny lies over the ocean, my ba, my ba is a major 6th, and bc is a major 6th. The next one is probably my favorite and this is the only one that isn't the first two notes of the song. For a major 7th, I like to use a world of pure imagination from Willy Wonka. This one will probably be
more trending for all ages listening because we just had the timothy chalamet version total side note it was so good also hopefully you know the og version with gene wilder and then in between there was a great johnny depp version though i'm totally going off off track here but i don't think he's saying did he say i don't know so that's my favorite for a major seventh a world of pure imagination come with me and you'll be in a world
That's a major seventh. And then an octave is a song we all know. Somewhere over the rainbow. Somewhere is a-
Perfect octave. So let me do a really quick recap of all of these So you've got them if you're like, let me jot these down really quickly and then practice with these quiz yourself Go to any note just start plunking out random notes
on the piano or any note that comes in your head, as long as it's in a comfy range for you, and then go, okay, what's the third for that? You have to think, kumba. Okay, what's the fifth for that? Twinkle, twinkle. What's the octave for that? Somewhere over the rainbow. Like I said, these are so great for training your ear. These are so great for increasing pitch accuracy, and they are killer for harmony.
So quick recap. A perfect first. Jingle bells, jingle bells, a unison note. A major second. Silent night. Silent night is a major second. A major third. Kumbaya, my lord, kumbaya.
is a major third or ⁓ when the saints ⁓ when is a major third a perfect fourth here comes the bride here comes is a perfect fourth a perfect fifth twinkle twinkle twinkle twinkle little star that is your perfect fifth a major sixth my bonnie lies over the ocean or nbc nb
is a major sixth, a major seventh, my personal favorite. Come with me and you'll be in a world of pure imagination. A world is a major seven. And then a perfect octave. Somewhere over the rainbow. Somewhere is your perfect octave. Play with these, you guys. They are such.
great tools and they can make something that can feel really overwhelming. feel so much easier, so much more accessible. I love to tie things in when I'm doing vocal technique to sounds you already know how to make. Why not tie our intervals into songs we already know and love, or maybe you don't love them, but I bet you know them.
And like I said, the foundation for killer harmony skills is interval work. And a really quick aside, part of our Vocal Pro membership, and I'm not gonna go into it. If you haven't heard me talk about it before, just know that I love it. I love that community so much. I'll put all the information in the show notes so you can check it out if you'd like. You can try two weeks for free. But one of the things about the Vocal Pro membership is we have a new expert workshop every single month.
And last month's expert workshop was with the fantastic Allie Moss. She is a fantastic singer and songwriter She's been a member of Ingrid Michaelson's band for a very long time and she is just the queen of breaking down vocal harmony. So she did this great workshop last month. If you are hearing this and you're like, man, I wish I could have gone to that. Don't worry. If you want to try out the Vocal Pro membership, like I said, you can try out two weeks for free.
all of our workshops, all of our events, all of our live coaching calls are recorded. So you can go back in there and it is just a treasure trove of amazing resources by amazing experts, including the Allie Moss Harmony Workshop. And you know what? I'll also put down in the notes Allie Moss's website, alliemoss.com And I totally just went off script there, but I don't have a script. So that's why. But just to say that harmony is such a huge part of this.
better listening skills, Really training that ear, better pitch accuracy. These are fun and these are also just what I use without even thinking about it now. If you find these helpful, share with a friend, and also leave me a comment and let me know. Do you want me to do the same breakdown for
Minor intervals. Let me know if that's helpful to you. Thank you so much for being here, and I can't wait to see you next episode. Happy singing!
