Ear Training? Pleeasee Help!?

Question

I'm working on ear training and music theory. I'm perfect at identifying pitches and notes, however I'm hopeless when it comes to identifying ascending and descending intervals. I just started them a minute ago and I'm absoloutley lost. Any tips? Please help!

Answer 1

Http://musictheory.net has some free practicing programs to help.

Like any other skill you learn, it takes some practice.

Answer 2

The easiest way I have found to differentiate from ascending or descending is to think about songs you know- like "Here Comes the Bride" is an ASCENDING perfect 4th. Get that in your ear and then compare it to what you listening to. Does it sound similar? Or does it sound like another song you know?

Or take something like the "NBC" theme chime.

Listen here: http://www.radioremembered.org/sounds/nb...

That is an ASCENDING major 6th, followed by a DESCENDING major 3rd.

Pick a song to memorize for each interval. That way, every time you hear it, you'll think of that song and know what it is. It's a lot of work to do for all the intervals, but it beats stressing out trying to guess from no where!

Hope this helps!