Disney Music Theory
  • Blog
  • Twitter
  • Copyright Disclaimer
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Twitter
  • Copyright Disclaimer
  • Contact
Picture

Teaching Musical Intervals: Context Matters!

7/24/2020

0 Comments

 
There are many reasons I dislike "interval reference songs."

And I may be unpopular for saying so: interval reference songs are one of the most popular ear training methods.

The concept is simple: if you want to remember what a minor 2nd sounds like, think of the Jaws theme. If you want to remember a perfect fourth, think: "Here comes the bride!" Perfect fifths? "Star wars!"

While this works to a certain extent, I have so many complaints about it.

But my biggest complaint is that they take musical intervals completely out of context.
Picture
Consider the examples in this excerpt from my four-page reference guide, "Teaching Musical Intervals Through Disney Music: A Source Sheet for Teachers."

​
Example #1, from Snow White, begins with a perfect fourth. But it's not simply a perfect fourth: it's a cadential leap from the dominant to the tonic, energetically launching us into the beginning of the melody. This is the same opening gesture that music theory students learn when they associate "Here Comes the Bride" with perfect fourths.

But how different it is from Example #2!

Example #2 begins with this same opening gesture, a perfect fourth leaping from the dominant to the tonic. BUT, then it has another perfect fourth just a couple bars later: from 6 up to 2. Unlike the opening 5-1 gesture, which relieves tension, 6-2 increases tension. While 5-1 completes a cadence, 6-2 initiates a cadence. In short: while both are perfect fourths, they feel, mean, and sound very different.

Example #3 adds a descending 4th into the mix. But it's not simply a descending 4th. It descends from 5 to 2, from the dominant to........... just quite NOT the tonic. It delays resolution. In a sense, it's exactly the opposite of "Here Comes the Bride," which resolves tension by moving from the dominant up to the tonic. Here, the dominant, moving downwards, is stopping just short of the tonic.

So why don't I like interval reference songs?

The truth is, I do agree that they can be very useful...... but we need to learn how to use them in context. If a student is in the middle of a dictation exercise, and they encounter a perfect fourth from 6 up to 2, then thinking about "Here Comes the Bride" is just as likely to confuse them as it is to help. And if it does help, the student is likely to lose their sense of the melody as a whole, requiring the teacher to replay it for them.

But what if we conceptualized interval reference songs differently?

What if, instead of learning a song to pair with "perfect fourths," we learned a song to pair with "the perfect fourth from 5 up to 1?" And a different song to pair with "the perfect fourth from 6 up to 2," and yet another for "the perfect fourth from 5 down to 2?"


"Here Comes the Bride" is a GREAT reference for perfect fourths when they're used as an opening gesture from 5 up to 1.

Example #3, from Moana, is a GREAT reference for perfect fourths when they're used as a teasing gesture from 5 down to 2.

Examples #2 and #4 are GREAT references for perfect fourths in sequential contexts.

Using interval reference songs in this way requires, in some sense, a paradigm shift in how we think about musical intervals.

Instead of treating them as isolated sounds – this note to that note – we should treat them as musical gestures that serve particular functions within a musical context.

What do you think?

I invite you to download my four-page guide, "Teaching Musical Intervals Through Disney Music: A Source Sheet for Teachers," and give some thought to the examples it includes. How can you use these to improve your teaching and learning? What other examples could you draw on, if you shift your focus from isolated intervals to intervals in context?

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Composer: Alan Menken
    Composer: Danny Elfman
    Composer: Elton John
    Composer: Frank Churchill
    Composer: Kristen Anderson Lopez And Robert Lopez
    Composer: Leigh Harline
    Composer: Lin Manuel Miranda
    Composer: Lin-Manuel Miranda
    Composer: Mack David And Al Hoffman And Jerry Livingston
    Composer: Matthew Wilder
    Composer: Mel Leven
    Composer: Michael Giacchino
    Composer: Randy Newman
    Disney Junior
    Life Update
    Movie: 101 Dalmatians
    Movie: Aladdin
    Movie: Beauty And The Beast
    Movie: Cinderella
    Movie: Coco
    Movie: Dumbo
    Movie: Frozen
    Movie: Frozen 2
    Movie: Hercules
    Movie: Hunchback Of Notre Dame
    Movie: Inside Out
    Movie: Lion King
    Movie: Little Mermaid
    Movie: Moana
    Movie: Mulan
    Movie: Newsies
    Movie: Nightmare Before Christmas
    Movie: Pinocchio
    Movie: Princess And The Frog
    Movie: Snow White
    Movie: Tangled
    Movie: Toy Story 2
    Show: PJ Masks
    Song: It's A Small World After All
    Theme: Anti-Semitism
    Theme: Parks
    Theme: Requests
    Theme: Survey Analysis
    Theme: Villains
    Theory: Absolute Music
    Theory: Chromaticism
    Theory: Counterpoint
    Theory: Foreshortening
    Theory: Gestures
    Theory: Harmony
    Theory: Intervals
    Theory: Meter
    Theory: Modal Mixture
    Theory: Modes
    Theory: Modulation
    Theory: Motifs
    Theory: Neapolitan
    Theory: Notation
    Theory: Orchestration
    Theory: Ostinatos
    Theory: Performance Technique
    Theory: Polymodality
    Theory: Polyphonic Melodies
    Theory: Production
    Theory: Rhythm
    Theory: Sequences
    Theory: Silence
    Theory: Timbre

    Author

    Samantha Zerin has a PhD in historical musicology from New York University, and has taught music theory at NYU, Brown University, and the Borough of Manhattan Community College. She is also a composer and poet, and teaches private students. To learn more about Dr. Zerin and her work, you can visit her main website, www.CreativeShuli.com

    Archives

    July 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly