Minor 6th ascending: Fascinating that this interval is so rare as a melody starter. When I was in school, the suggestion was always the theme song from the tv show Lassie, but no one was old enough to remember it, so we had to learn that tune to remember the interval. Surely there have to be classical themes in minor that go from Do to La at the opening...?
I can't think of one right now... I was spared the process of learning intervals by attaching them to songs. I had an early piano teacher who taught me to sing and recognize intervals by practicing singing them on both numbers and solfege syllables, and it worked... and didn't evoke an unwanted melody when I heard them. I hear a major sixth as do-la, not "My bonnie"... a more uncluttered memory tool, in my opinion, but that's just me...
By the way, I did use one crutch... I got really good at hearing chords at the hands of an early theory teacher who drilled similarly, just practicing hearing harmonies. One confusing I used a crutch for was for hearing major and minor sixths (not melodically divided... those I could do, but for some reason, hearing them played as two-note chords was confusing. I could easily hear major and minor thirds, so go figure... )
Anyway, there is a little Brahms waltz.. I can't even remember the name, number, key or anything... but I had played it in my piano study early on. It begins with alternating major and minor sixths in the right hand. The first sixth is major, the second one is minor. I found it easy to spot the major and minor sixths by recognizing them either as the FIRST sixth in the piece, or the SECOND one. Worked every time, even for identifying sixths played as melody intervals, and at least it didn't have words attached to be evoked every time I heard them.
I know this probably isn't useful in a classroom situation (how many have played that piece, anyhow?) but I'll bet other young musicians have inadvertently developed crutches of this kind...
Linda Worsley _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
