The major 2nd is an interval that does not say much, by which I mean it is not always used as a building block for a melody, and is usually used as a jumping off point for other intervals, or larger structures.
Tunes such as “Happy Birthday”, the “Mash” theme and “Linus & Lucy” would be exceptions – they are also good ear training tunes to remember the sound of a major 2nd.
But nothing says major 2nd more than “Strangers in the Night” – the whole song was composed around this interval – melodically, structurally and harmonically.
Frank Sinatra hated this song – but it did turn out to be his second highest selling song, gave him the number 1 that he needed at the time, and stayed in the charts for 19 weeks – something must have been right with this tune!
This video looks at the melody in more detail, and perhaps uncovers reasons why it should be considered a “good” melody.
Got the sound of it? The free Interval Ear Trainer deals major 2nds among its ten questions — see if you can pick Sinatra's interval out of a line-up.
Editor's note: Apologies for the coming-out-of-the-water sound effect on the audio, there was some sort of rendering error that I can't fix, hopefully it's not too distracting! - S.L.