As the tutor for my school's music department, I spend a lot of time helping students drill intervals. However, I only have a handful of songs to recommend recognition.
P8 — Somewhere Over the Rainbow
P5 — Also Sprach Zarathustra
P4 — Here Comes the Bride
m7 — Somewhere (West Side Story)
And there's the extent of my help. Everything else I work as either arpeggios or scales. What are good pieces to help my students? Particularly Tritone and the Major and Minor 6ths.
My music teacher taught us to memorise and recognise intervals using the "compare-it-to-a-familiar-song" method too.
It works really well and Somewhere Over The Rainbow was the exact song we used as well.
However, it's only effective if you're actually familiar with the tune - Also Sprach Zarathustra doesn't ring any bells with me.
So, as my teacher did, why not play the interval to the student and get them to name a tune they know which contains the same interval?
If it happens to be by some obscure X-Factor drop-out, so be it - they'll always remember it because they made the link. If you're too proscriptive about the tunes they'll not be able to identify and remember them.
A great one to use for the rising major 6th is the "NBC" motif. Fun fact, NBC was originally a subsidiary of General Electric, and instead of "National Broadcasting Company", "General Electric Company" was used, or G-E-C for short. That initialism spells the notes that make up what is now known as the NBC motif!
M7: Bali Hai, from "South Pacific" -- actually it's an octave jump up followed immediately by a half-step down, but you hear that M7 clearly.
West Side Story is all about tritones. The signal whistle is G C F#. Jet Song: G G E C F#. Maria: C F# G. Cool: C F# G C First sung note of "Gee Officer Krupke" is an F# against C in the bass.
m2: Jaws theme of course!
Since you're already using West Side Story: the canonical mnemonic for the tritone is Maria. (In fact, I've never seen anybody use a different one.)
This site has an extensive list of songs corresponding to the intervals. It's too much to reproduce here but I will note that it's missing "O Canada" for the ascending minor third :P
m6 - 'Bei Mir Bistu Shein' (or 'Bei Mir Bist Du Schön')
M6 - 'My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean'
(For most intervals I use(d) non-internationally known songs that I chose myself like Widor so nicely suggests.)
Very nice question.... You brought back memories :) My music teacher did the exact same thing. I can't seem to recall all the songs she taught us though. I remember she used Singing in the rain for Octave though! :)
Check out this link it has many interesting examples many of which my teacher used as well (like jaws, happy birthday, Superman Theme)
https://web.archive.org/web/20120419063515/http://www.musicalintervalstutor.info/listenpg.html
Widor's answer presents an interesting approach I have to say.
M3 (going down to tonic from major 3rd) = doorbell... ding dong. Don't laugh - I still use it. (Love the other examples!)
The stacked thirds from the bridge of Twist and Shout by the Beatles. It gives you the whole layout of the scale in one meme.
