Shamrock Interval Worksheet

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You know, as teachers we can never assume our students know anything they haven’t specifically been taught and reinforced. Roman numerals comes to mind, as well as fractions for rhythm. That is something I remind teachers when I give workshops.

I poignantly remember one sweet little student. I was reminding him that the spaces in the treble clef spell FACE. He hung his head in shame and in the most despondent voice said, “I can’t read.” I know I’ve told this story before, but I will probably repeat it, because it made such an impression on me. It changed the way I taught, not only children, but when I give workshops to adults, or even when I help someone at the computer.

You might be wondering what this has to do with intervals! The fact is, teachers have to explain what the word interval means, and we have to say it a lot if we want them to remember it. They will forget!

Also, we can’t assume students know how to write ordinal numbers with suffixes, such as  1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.

Students sometimes have no idea that “octave” is often abbreviated by writing “8va,” or 8ve, even if we write that in their assignment book regularly. We have to explain that while 8va means to move up one octave in piano music, it is often abbreviated in theory. It is not an official proclamation from the Kingdom of Music Theory, but that’s just the way it is, at least from my experience.

So on this worksheet, I wrote the intervals both ways and included octaves. I hope your students get something out of it!