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If I were to pick any note and random could you quickly tell me the major/minor third, perfect 4th and 5th, major 7th, etc.

If yes did this just come from practice and time?

Yes - but for me personally it took months of daily practice. I did no more than 10 minutes a day but could do all intervals ascending and descending after about 6 months with great accuracy.

Does that mean your ‘no more than 10 minutes’ was a dedicated interval recognition work? I know a handful but want to learn more so thinking adding it to my routine.

1. Yes.

2. Yes.

suggested practice:

Figure out what your singing range is.

Play a note (e.g. F)

Pick an interval (e.g. Major 3rd)

Sing what you think that interval, above that note, is.

Play that note on the keyboard (e.g. A)

If that's the pitch that you sang, you get a point.

5 minutes per day should be enough.

Yes. I dedicated no more than 10 minutes a day strictly to working on interval recognition. To clarify a bit - I spent some time in the morning and some in the evening but overall about 10 minutes a day. I used an app. I started with just a few and only ascending and once I mastered those I added some more. Then I worked on descending intervals until mastered. Then I used the app to play random ascending and descending intervals. The app was very useful as it gave you percentage accuracy by interval so I could work on those I wasn’t as good at. I did the same for chord recognition and progressions. It’s better to do a little every single day than try to cram a lot of time in every few days.

I'm not sure if I understand the topic correctly: is it about the recognition of intervals when written on staves (or, let's say, only purely identifying which notes constitute a certain interval), or rather about aural recognition of intervals?

If the latter, I gotta say I've never really practiced much of it, and I'd be totally destroyed by trying to identify them by ear in most cases.

If the former, it is very straightforward once you memorize what quality types of intervals (perfect, major, minor, augmented, diminished, and variants) can be produced for each number type (2nd, 3rd, 4th...) (e.g. 5ths can be perfect, whilst 6ths can be major or minor instead), and which notes in the scale constitute which number type.
I always picture a keyboard in my head to help to figure out the notes; other than that, it is just a matter of picking the notes that form a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc., and adding/removing accidentals to ensure the quality (perfect, major, minor, etc.).
I would say that knowing the major scales very well can help a lot since with that it is easy to identify the major 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 7th, and the perfect 4th and 5th of any given note and, after that, just shape the accidentals to remodel the interval. Of course, it is easier for ascending ones.

Time and practice are key, the more you get used to the different scales, the easier it gets to quickly identify if notes X and Y form an augmented 6th or a minor 7th...

Best,
pw

[quote=pianowhisper]I'm not sure if I understand the topic correctly: is it about the recognition of intervals when written on staves (or, let's say, only purely identifying which notes constitute a certain interval), or rather about aural recognition of intervals?

If the latter, I gotta say I've never really practiced much of it, and I'd be totally destroyed by trying to identify them by ear in most cases.

If the former, it is very straightforward once you memorize what quality types of intervals (perfect, major, minor, augmented, diminished, and variants) can be produced for each number type (2nd, 3rd, 4th...) (e.g. 5ths can be perfect, whilst 6ths can be major or minor instead), and which notes in the scale constitute which number type.
I always picture a keyboard in my head to help to figure out the notes; other than that, it is just a matter of picking the notes that form a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc., and adding/removing accidentals to ensure the quality (perfect, major, minor, etc.).
I would say that knowing the major scales very well can help a lot since with that it is easy to identify the major 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 7th, and the perfect 4th and 5th of any given note and, after that, just shape the accidentals to remodel the interval. Of course, it is easier for ascending ones.

Time and practice are key, the more you get used to the different scales, the easier it gets to quickly identify if notes X and Y form an augmented 6th or a minor 7th...

Best,
pw[/quote
Ah - sorry OP I misinterpreted your initial question. I was talking about how to recognize intervals audibly not through sight recognition.

If I remember correctly it took me about the same amount of time. But that's only the first step in ear training. Complete ear training program requires many years, that's why it is important to start early.

The latter. Such as if you randomly pick notes on key board can you spell out the intervals quickly. If you land on F# can you quickly know A# is the major third, then the fifth, seventh, etc. Although I’d imagine the aural side is good to know and practice as well.

Wouldn't you mean the former then instead of latter?
Aural recognition is tough and requires a lot of practice, yes.
For the other situation, if you know one of the notes and want to know which other constitutes a given interval, then it's in my opinion a matter of knowing well your scales. Time and practice! (as for everything actually...)

Yes. Ear training and musical dictation.

If my job were to transcribe music, ithat would probably be a good excersize. My job is to find the key and play along. (Quickly) 50/50 chance i've played it before. I suppose the excersize would be similar to listening to the radio, and playing along with whatever comes. Interval recognition, within a context, i guess.

So what app did you use, cagal?

Can you share the names of the apps you used?
I'm always looking for things that can help my students.

I used Tonedear.com. There’s a free online website plus an app you can pay for. It was really good. I used RCM as well when I was prepping for exam but this was as good (and did I mention free lol). You can select as many or few intervals as you’d like to practice plus ascending/descending or random. Good for chords and progressions too. There were other features but they weren’t relevant to my exam. it was great to sit at breakfast and just practice a bit on the iPad.