Interval ear training, with your voice
An interval is the distance between two notes. Recognizing and singing intervals is the foundation for sight-singing, harmonizing and learning songs by ear. Here you don't just listen: you sing them, and c4nta tells you whether you landed on the right note.
How it works
- Two notes play on the piano: the root and the target.
- Sing the root and hold it. That anchors you in the key, just like in solfège.
- Then sing the target and hold it inside the band.
If you're already comfortable, turn off "Also sing the root" and go straight to the target. "Just this note" replays just the note you're on.
What you can adjust
- Intervals: choose which ones to practice, from a minor second to an octave, including thirds, fourths, the tritone, fifths, sixths and sevenths.
- Direction: ascending, descending or both.
- Difficulty: easy (±70 cents), medium (±40) or strict (±25).
A good place to start is the major third, the perfect fourth and fifth, and the octave. They're the easiest intervals to recognize.
Why sing intervals instead of just listening
Research shows that listening-only training does little for singing accuracy: hearing well doesn't automatically get your voice to the note. What works is connecting your ear and your voice by singing and comparing. That's why this ear training is sung.
If single notes are still hard, start with the pitch matching exercises and come back here afterwards.
Frequently asked questions
How do I memorize intervals?
Link each one to the opening of a song you know and sing it often in both directions. Practicing a few at a time works better than all of them at once.
What is a tritone?
It's the six-semitone interval, exactly half an octave. It sounds tense and is one of the hardest to sing in tune.
Is my voice recorded?
No. The microphone audio is analyzed inside your browser to detect the note, and it is never recorded or sent to any server.
More c4nta exercises
- Vocal warm-up — a guided routine to warm up your voice before singing or recording.
- Vocal pitch monitor — see the note you sing in real time and whether you are sharp or flat.
- Pitch matching exercises — hear a note, sing it and hold it inside the target band.
- Scale degree ear training — hear a note in a key and guess which scale degree it is.
- Melodic dictation — hear a short melody and play it back note by note.
- Karaoke pitch trainer — sing a melody with a piano guide and get a pitch accuracy score.