MUSIC MEMORY DEVICES

Intervals

Earmaster

m2

up

Silver Bells

O Danny Boy

Jaws

Stormy Weather

Pink Panther

White Christmas (I'm dreaming)

m2

down

Joy to the World

Fur Elise

M2

up

Frere Jacques

Brother John (Are you sleeping)

Silent Night

Happy Birthday

M2

down

Three Blind Mice

Deck the Halls

Yesterday

m3

up

Greensleeves

The Impossible Dream

So Long, Farewell (from The Sound of Music)

Brahm's Lullaby

Inna Gadda Da Vida

O Canada

m3

down

This Old Man

Star Spangled Banner

Hey Jude

Frosty the Snowman

Ring Around the Rosy

playground tease

M3

up

Kum Ba Yah

Marines' Hymn (From the halls of Montezuma)

When the Saints Go Marching In

On Top of Old Smokey

Holy, Holy, Holy

M3

down

Beethoven's 5th

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

Summertime

Goodnight, Ladies

P4

up

Auld Lang Syne

Here Comes the Bride

Taps

The Eyes of Texas

Home on the Range

Amazing Grace

O Christmas Tree

Pop Goes the Weasel

Someday My Prince Will Come

P4

down

Old MacDonald

I've Been Working on the Railroad

All of Me

Shave and a Haircut

O Come, All Ye Faithful

My Girl

Tritone

up

Maria

The Simpsons

Tritone

down

Turn Back Oh Man (from Godspell)

Black Sabbath

 

P5

up

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Star Wars

Flying Monkeys theme from Wizard of Oz

My Favorite Things

Also sprach Zarathustra

Can't Help Falling in Love (Wise men)

P5

down

Flintstones

Superman theme

It Don't Mean a Thing

Erie Canal

For Unto Us a Child Is Born

Drunken Sailor

m6

up

The Entertainer (3rd and 4th notes, then repeated)

m6

down

Love Story

M6

up

NBC

My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

Surfer Girl

Jingle Bells (Dashing through the snow)

My Way

Hush Little Baby

America the Beautiful (chorus)

M6

down

Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen

Over There

School Days

Music of the Night

Crazy

Sweet Caroline

Nationwide is on your side (Insurance commercial)

m7

up

Somewhere (There's a place for us)

Star Trek (theme from original series)

Have you driven a Ford lately (commercial)

The Winner Takes It All (Abba)

m7

down

Watermelon Man

M7

up

Bali Hai (1st and 3rd notes)

Color My World (1st and 4th notes)

Don't Know Why (Norah Jones "I waited til I saw the sun")

Take On Me (A-ha)

M7

down

 

P8

up

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Purple Haze (intro)

The Christmas Song

Let It Snow

P8

down

 

Major

chord up

Can't Buy Me Love

Major

chord

down

Dixie (Oh I wish)

Minor

chord up

 

Minor

chord down

 

More

Use the links below to drill intervals online

BigEars

EarTrainer

 

Key Signatures

The name of the key is the next to last flat,

Or with sharps pick the last, then the letter past that.

OR

Last flat is Fa,

Last sharp is Ti,

No sharps or flats

Is the key of C

 

Order of Flats

Order of Sharps

B E A D Greatest Common Factor

Fat Cats Go Down Alleys Eating Bugs (or Birds)

Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles' Father

Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle

Bread Eating After Dinner Gets Cats Fat

Fat Cats Get Dinner After Eating Bread

Bright Eternal Angels Defend God's Church

Fidel Castro Gets Drunk At Every Bar

B E A D - Go Call Fred! Fred Can't Go Driving After Eight Beers
British European Airlines Do Great Continental Flights Fat Country Girls Dance And Eat Biscuits
  Funny Country Girls Dance and Eat Biscuits

 

Four Chorus Girls Danced All Evening Bare

 Note:  These are not of my invention and I would be happy to give credit if someone would like to claim responsibility!

Here's a shortcut to come up with the number of sharps or flats in a given key:

  1. Look at 2 scales with the same letter name.  For example:  Gb Major and G Major

  2. The number of flats in the Gb scale plus the number of sharps in the G scale will equal 7

  3. In this case, it's easy to remember that the key of G Major has 1 sharp, so with lightning speed, you can calculate that Gb Major must have 6 flats!

 
 

c minor

 

  

c# minor

 

 d minor d# minor  Ab Major A Major  G Major Gb Major 

3 flats

+

4 sharps

=7

 1 flat+6 sharps=7 4 flats+3 sharps=7 1 sharp+6 flats=7

 

 

 

 

               
 

Go to this link for more information on this hint

 

Repeat Sign

Dot, dot, line, line - This is a repeat sign!

 

Double Barline

When you see two lines, my friend,

Then you know it is the end.

(Heather Hawk, Tarleton State University)

 

 

Note Names

 

Names of Lines in Treble Clef

Names of Spaces in Treble Clef

Every Good Boy Does Fine

F A C E   (spells face)

Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge 
Every Good Burger Deserves Fries 
Every Good Bird Does Fly 
Elvis' Guitar Broke Down Friday 
Even George Bush Drives Fords 
Elephants Got Big Dirty Feet 
Empty Garbage Before Dad Flips 
Every Green Bus Drives Fast 

Names of Lines in Bass Clef

Names of Spaces in Bass Clef

Great Big Dogs Fight Animals

All Cows Eat Grass

Good Burritos Don't Fall ApartAll Cars Eat Gas
Grizzly Bears Don't Fear AnythingAll Children Eat Grapes
Great Big Dogs Frighten Albert 

 

The Music Alphabet Song

 

A-B-C-D-E-F-G
Music letters STOP at G!
If you want to name a space,

Just remember they spell F-A-C-E
If you want to learn the lines,

Say "Every Good Boy Does Fine"
 

 

 

MODES

I DON'T PARTICULARLY LIKE MODES A LOT

 Ionian  Dorian  Phrygian  Lydian  Mixolydian  Aeolian  Locrian

 

My Dorian (the car) will go up to 6th gear. (raised 6th)

Wait a second (2nd), it's friggin' (Phrygian) cold in here! (lowered 2nd)

For (Four) Lydian's sake! (raised 4th)

I am 'mixing' (Mixolydian) a Major 2nd into the end of the scale. (subtonic instead of leading tone)

(I do not know who came up with these.  Let me know and I'll give you credit!)

 

 

Voice Leading

 

 

 

Names of Keys on a Keyboard

Digger's Dog House shows you where the D is on a keyboard.

2 Black keys designates the Dog House

3 Black keys is the Big House

 

 

 

 

MUSIC HISTORY

 

to the tune of "I've Got Rhythm"

I got rhythm,

I got pitches,

In 1250

Who can notate anything more?

 

In 1250 Franco proposed a system of dots and stems that gave relative duration to notes.

(David Meckler, Canada College)

 

 

 

to the tune of the Beatles' "Michelle"

Machaut, you know,

Wrote motets and songs so long ago,

Guillaume Machaut.

 

Machaut was the leading Ars Nova composer (1300-1377)

 (David Meckler, Canada College)

 

 

 

 

AUGMENTED 6ths

Sung to the tune of The Addams Family

(Chorus inserted between verses, if you're not in a hurry)

 

Chorus

Augmented sixths

Augmented sixths

These are the tricks so we won’t mix

Augmented sixths

 

Verses 

Italian, French and German

Now here’s how to determine

The 3rd, we’ll be affirmin’

Just check the 4th and 5th.

 

Italian is completed,

A third is all that’s needed

And that note is repeated

In this augmented sixth.

 

The French one sounds so scary,

The tritone’s customary,

The tension’s temporary

In this augmented sixth.

 

The German is a jazz chord,

Has 3 and 5, but not 4.

It moves to tonic 6/4

In this augmented sixth.

 

The key to understanding:

The 6th will be expanding,

By half step will be landing,

It's easy to predict.

 

wrote this one myself!

Created and maintained by Vicky V. Johnson