Interval recognition, the ability to name and reproduce musical intervals, is an important part of ear training, music transcription, musical intonation and sight-reading.
Reference songs
Some music teachers teach their students relative pitch by having them associate each possible interval with the first interval of a popular song. Such songs are known as "reference songs". However, others have shown that such familiar-melody associations are quite limited in scope, applicable only to the specific scale-degrees found in each melody.
| 0/unison | "America the Beautiful" (on "Oh beautiful")' "God Save the King"/"My Country, 'Tis of Thee" "Hava Nagila" "Jingle Bells" "La Marseillaise""One Note Samba" "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" (on "twin-kle") | |||
| Steps/interval | Ascending | Descending | ||
| 1/minor second | Theme of the One Ring from The Lord of the Rings Theme from Jaws "Nice Work If You Can Get It" "Isn't She Lovely" Ode to Joy (10) | C↑C♯ | "Stella by Starlight" "Joy to the World" "Für Elise" Theme from Jurassic Park Wedding March Mendelssohn | C↓B |
| 2/major second | "Frère Jacques" "Silent Night" "Never Gonna Give You Up" "Strangers in the Night" "Do-Re-Mi" | C↑D | "Mary Had a Little Lamb" "Three Blind Mice" "Satin Doll" "The First Noel" | C↓B♭ |
| 3/minor third | "A Cruel Angel's Thesis" (theme from Neon Genesis Evangelion) "Axel F" the Beverly Hills Cop theme song "Greensleeves" "Smoke on the Water" "O Canada" "The Impossible Dream" "So Long, Farewell" "Oh where, oh where has my little dog gone" "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath "Bad" "Brahms's Lullaby" "Hallelujah" | C↑E♭ | "Hey Jude" "The Star-Spangled Banner" "Frosty the Snowman" "This Old Man" "Can We Fix It?" from Bob the Builder | C↓A |
| 4/major third | "When the Saints Go Marching In" "Spring" from Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" "Kumbaya" "And did those feet in ancient time" "O mio babbino caro" | C↑E | "Summertime" "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" "Goodnight, Ladies" Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 | C↓A♭ |
| 5/perfect fourth | "Auld Lang Syne" "O Tannenbaum/Oh Christmas Tree" Here Comes the Bride "Amazing Grace" | C↑F | Eine kleine Nachtmusik "O Come, All Ye Faithful" Theme from Dynasty | C↓G |
| 6/tritone | "Maria" from West Side Story "The Simpsons Theme" | C↑F♯ | "YYZ" "Black Sabbath" "Even Flow" | C↓F♯ |
| 7/perfect fifth | Also sprach Zarathustra "Can't Help Falling in Love" (on Wise Men) "My Favorite Things" "Scarborough Fair" Theme from Star Wars "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" (from 1st to 2nd "twinkle") "Yeah!" | C↑G | Back to the Future Theme "Don't You (Forget About Me)" chorus The Flintstones Theme "Seven Steps to Heaven" "What Do You Do With A Drunken Sailor?" | C↓F |
| 8/minor sixth | "Go Down Moses" on "When Is(-rael)" Theme of 1492: Conquest of Paradise "The Entertainer" (big interval after pick-up) "Close Every Door" "Nothing Compares 2 U" | C↑A♭ | "You're Everything" from Light as a Feather "Where Do I Begin?" from the film Love Story | C↓E |
| 9/major sixth | "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" "Jingle Bells" (on "dash-ing through the snow") "Leia's Theme" (from Star Wars) "Libiamo ne' lieti calici", brindisi from Verdi's 1853 opera La traviata"My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean" "My Way" NBC Theme Song | C↑A | "Man in the Mirror" (chorus) "The Music of the Night" "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" "Over There" "Sweet Caroline" | C↓E♭ |
| 10/minor seventh | Theme from Star Trek "Somewhere" from West Side Story "The Winner Takes It All" | C↑B♭ | "Watermelon Man" "An American in Paris" "Lady Jane" (refrain)(9) | C↓D |
| 11/major seventh | "Take On Me" Theme from Fantasy Island | C↑B | "I Love You" “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Nat King Cole)” "Maybe" | C↓C♯ |
| 12/octave | "Over the Rainbow" "Blue Bossa" "The Christmas Song" "Starman" "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" "When You Wish Upon a Star" | C↑C | "Willow Weep for Me" | C↓C |
In addition, there are various solmization systems (including solfeggio, sargam, and numerical sight-singing) that assign specific syllables to different notes of the scale. Among other things, this makes it easier to hear how intervals sound in different contexts, such as starting on different notes of the same scale.