Intervals in music are shrouded in mystery. But they aren't really that hard to learn and without them, music wouldn't be possible. That's because music is all about patterns and some of those patterns - namely melodies - are the result of intervals.

In their most basic form, intervals are the measurement of distance between one tone and another. Go from a C to a D, or a C to an A, and you have an interval. By stringing a bunch of intervals together, you end up with a melody.

One of the cool things about intervals is that you can train yourself to read music on the fly by learning to use intervals to sight read on the piano. Imagine that - playing a piece of music you've never seen before - all because you've mastered interval sight reading on the piano.

There's no way around learning intervals if you want to do interval sight reading. But don't worry, the basics are pretty easy to learn and they're actually already present in the music.

There are 12 fundamental intervals. You can stretch them out, of course, over an octave or more to create variations in the melody. For interval piano sight reading, you're limited to a little more than 7 octaves on the piano, which would be a huge range if you were a vocalist. By comparison, Maria Carey tops out at 5 ½ octaves.

Since we're learning interval piano sight reading, we'll stick to the piano for the purposes of this tutorial.

First, why are there only 12 intervals? The reason is that the brain can recognize and endless number of octaves easily. But within an octave, there are only a dozen ways you can move between tones. After that, you're simply stretching into a higher or lower octave and using the same intervals.

Minor Second Interval (min 2nd)

Two notes a step apart is a melodic minor second. It can sound mysterious or even sad. If Maria taught the Von Trapp kids melodic minor seconds in the Sound of Music they would have sung Do-Re or Me-Fa (go ahead, sing along).

Major Second Interval (Maj 2nd)

A melodic major second would be two notes played two steps apart. Three Blind Mice is a good example. It can sound very joyous or happy.

Minor Third Interval (min 3rd)

A blues-sounding interval is the melodic minor third. It sounds sad or dark. Greensleeves is an example of a melodic minor third.

Major Third Interval (Maj 3rd)

Two notes played four steps apart is a melodic major third. Beethoven fancied it for the Dum-Dum-Dum-DUM in his Fifth Symphony. It can also be found in marches because it sounds dramatic or optimistic.

Perfect Fourth Interval (P 4th)

Melodic perfect fourth is two notes played five steps apart. If you walked down the aisle to Here Comes the Bride or Pachelbel's Canon, you did it to a melodic perfect fourth.

Flatted Fifth/Tritone Interval (flat 5)

If you're going for the haunting sound of the Middle Ages, try the melodic flatted fifth, which is two notes six steps apart. Sing MA-RI-A from West Side Story and you've got an example.

Perfect Fifth Interval (P 5th)

Two notes played seven steps apart produce a nice, upbeat sound. Known as the melodic perfect fifth, you can hear it in the opening of Georgy Girl, - Hey, THERE, Georgy Girl...

These are the basic ones you need to really learn if you want to master interval piano sight reading. Following are less often used intervals that will still come in handy and have been used in some very familiar tunes:

Minor Sixth Interval (Min 6th)

This interval is formed by playing notes that are eight steps apart. It's used less frequently and has a very active feeling. Scott Joplin uses it in The Entertainer in the fourth bar.

Major Sixth Interval (Maj 6th)

Notes that are nine steps apart form the melodic major sixth. You can hear it in the three notes that are played along with the NBC network logo. Dum-DUM-Dummmm.

Minor Seventh Interval (m 7th)

A very dissonant sounding interval the major seventh interval is created by playing notes 10 steps apart. Somewhere from West Side Story uses this in its first two notes.

Major Seventh Interval (Maj 7th)

When two notes are played 11 steps apart you have a major seventh interval. It's rarely used to create melodies but the 80's band A-ha did it with their hit Take On Me.

Perfect Octave (P8)

Two notes played 12 steps apart is a perfect octave. You might recognize a classic done with a perfect octave - Some-WHERE Over the Rainbow. Those two opening notes are classic perfect octave, otherwise known as a melodic octave.

As you can see, intervals not only create the melody of the song, but the mood of it as well. We've only covered the basic intervals so you can get a sense of what you will be learning as you go deeper into interval piano sight reading.

Intervals are an exciting part of music. Learning them can give you the knowledge you need to amaze family and friends with your ability to do interval piano sight reading, playing pieces you've never even seen the music for.