Weeks 5-6 · ear · named-degree production
Hear the key. Read the name. Sing the degree.
The rule
pass: ±50¢ on 8 of 10
Each trial is labelled with the prompted degree name (1 through 7). The dot is how far the sung pitch landed from that named target — sharp above the line, flat below. Emerald inside ±50¢, grey outside. Unlike single-note match, the target is implicit: no model tone plays. The failure mode here is the fallback to a familiar interval— when prompted for “the 4th” your voice slides to a 3rd because it’s the more practiced shape.
Hear it first
The cadence sets the key, then the prompt names one degree. Listen for the chord first; the degree is everything you sing against it.
What’s happening.This is Kodály’s core production drill — name a degree, hear it inside your head, produce it with your voice. There’s no model tone, only the established key. Trained sight-singers land degrees within 20–25¢ from a key cue alone; the typical untrained adult misses 1, 3, and 5 by a semitone or more, especially without a sung prime.
Why prompt by name, not by sound. Echo drills test mimicry. Naming the degree breaks the input from auditory to symbolic — the only path to it is your internal map of the scale. 50¢ is wider than degrees-against-drone (35¢) on purpose: without a continuous drone in your ear, your reference is decaying, and we’re scoring whether the name found the pitch, not whether your tuning is tight.
Why this is the foundation. Sight-singing, choral entries, harmony work, and writing your own melodies all require fluent degree-to-pitch mapping from a remembered key. This is the cleanest measurement of that skill we have. It’s the bridge between solfège lessons (so-mi, so-mi-la) and the harmony lessons in weeks 11-12.
Session ahead
10 prompts · I chord establishes the key, then a degree name appears · hold within ±50¢ for 2.0s · 8/10promotes.