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- Interval: major sixth
Interval: major sixth
You sing a note, leap 9 semitones up and come back.
Root, major sixth, root: a leap of nine semitones and back, root held two beats. The sixth is the first interval in this series that's big enough to need a change of gear; it often crosses from a comfortable middle into a lighter top. It also sounds warm and open, a favorite for melodic hooks. Three notes at a slow tempo on 'lah'. Each repetition is a semitone higher, until you're near the top of your range, then the pattern comes back down the same way.
How to do it
- Listen to the piano leap a sixth and come back.
- Sing the root full, then the sixth lighter, on 'lah', without sliding up to it.
- Watch the top bar on the roll; it's nine rows up and should read green.
- Each repetition is a semitone higher, until you're near the top of your range, then it works back down the same way.
Coach's tip: Sing the top note lighter than the bottom one. Big intervals need a “gear change”.
What to watch out for
Singers often carry the weight of the root into the top note and end up flat and pushed. Lighten the top. Landing on a fifth or a major seventh instead of the sixth is common when the ear isn't sure; hear it first. The return root often goes heavy. If the leap starts to feel like a strain, that's the passaggio talking; sing softer or lower the range.
Who it's for
Intermediate singers who are secure on fifths and want to extend upward. Use it in the main block after Interval: perfect fifth, and before Interval: major seventh. Broken thirds ends its climb on a major sixth, so this helps there too. It isn't part of a preset program; work through the Intervals category in order.
Opens the app in your browser. Free to start, no account needed. Put on headphones first.
Related exercises
- Interval: perfect fifth You sing a note, leap 7 semitones up and come back.
- Intervals from the tonic, no piano The piano gives only the first note. From the tonic you sing a second, third, fourth and fifth on your own, returning to the tonic each time – like in solfège.
- Leaps on the “and” in swing From the tonic, a leap of a major third, a major sixth and a minor seventh – each time the top note comes in on the short eighth before the beat and carries over. A typical jazz push.
- Harmony a third above First the piano plays your line, then it plays the melody while you sing a second voice over it – a third higher, step for step. That’s the high harmony of folk and country.