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I can identify any interval by ear up to an octave but I'm having trouble hearing the minor ninth. I keep confusing it with the major seventh. I know one is larger than an octave and the other smaller but it's not helping me.

The way I initially learned the intervals was to hear some known tune. I was wondering whether anyone knows a tune with a minor ninth that I could use as a model for hearing it.

Can you hear it as a minor second with some additional distance between the notes?

Not really. I can hear the major 9th as the same as a major 2nd but not so with the minor 9th. The semitone away from the octave confuses me.

The beginning of "Bossa Nova USA"

It is easier to hear intervals when they are contextualized within a key center as opposed to in isolation. This way you can associate them with tendencies to resolve to one of the other notes of the key.

Every note has a tendency but the best example is the tendency ti to do (B to C in the key of C). Play an ascending C major scale on the piano and stop at B. You will hear the very strong tendency of the B to want to resolve to C.

Another strong tendency is fa to mi (F to E).

Once you learn the tendencies of all chromatic pitches, you arrive at a kind of key-dependent perfect pitch where you can identify any pitch (and therefore any interval). (This can be an extremely fun party trick to demonstrate your "perfect pitch")

I have a lesson (requires paid subscription) on tendency tone ear training here:

https://www.jazzpianoonline.com/courses/tendency-tones-ear-training

Write with any questions.

Very surprised to hear someone with this question! But yeah, I can think of one example... in the very first few seconds of this clip you'll Elton play a minor 9th interval with his right hand, over a sort of implied Eb chord.



The major 7th interval is a lot more common. You'll find you very rarely come across this interval in music.

Beatles I want to tell you, piano

Time stamp?

A thought. Try hearing an octave - for me, I’d use the first 2 notes from “Over the Rainbow “ - then sing or hear/audiate a half step up. I recall using this method for a major 7th in the past. Hopefully over time with repeated practice the minor 9th will become internalized.

Does anyone find themselves getting mixed between a tritone and a minor 6th?

Re Beatles I want to tell you

0.25 and others. Famous in their time. Very George.