Degrees in your tunes
The gym drills use random notes. Real melodies aren't random — they lean on ^1, ^3 and ^5, step between them, and use the tendency tones to pull. This lesson takes the degree-naming skill out of the drill and points it at tunes you already know.
Name a tune in numbers
Pick a tune you can sing. Set its key with a drone. Go phrase by phrase, singing each note and naming its degree. You'll find most tunes are simpler than they sound — mostly steps, mostly stable tones, with the odd expressive leap.
A few openings to know cold
| Tune | First notes, in degrees |
|---|---|
| Hot Cross Buns | ^3 ^2 ^1 |
| Mary Had a Little Lamb | ^3 ^2 ^1 ^2 ^3 ^3 ^3 |
| Twinkle | ^1 ^1 ^5 ^5 ^6 ^6 ^5 |
| London Bridge | ^5 ^6 ^5 ^4 ^3 ^4 ^5 |
| Ode to Joy | ^3 ^3 ^4 ^5 · ^5 ^4 ^3 ^2 · ^1 ^1 ^2 ^3 · ^3 ^2 ^2 |
| Amazing Grace | ^5 ^1 ^3 ^1 · ^3 ^2 ^1 (the pickup is ^5, below home) |
Once you can hear a known tune as numbers, the step to an unknown tune is small — it's the same seven degrees, you just don't have the answer key.
Try it
Try
Take Ode to Joy (you've played it). Drone on G. Sing the first line and name every degree. Check against the table. Then do the second line by ear alone — no table. Then a tune that's not in the table: hum it, find its key, and number the first phrase. That last one is a real by-ear transcription, in miniature.
The usual mistake
Jumping straight to unknown tunes before the known ones are automatic. Known tunes are the bridge — they let you practise the numbering with a built-in answer key, so you find out immediately when you're wrong. Skip them and every attempt is a shot in the dark. The other mistake: numbering without a drone, so the key drifts and ^1 stops meaning anything.