New Composer
|
|
Musical Intervals |
|
A musical interval is the difference in pitch of two tones. Melodic intervals occur between tones in a series. Harmonic intervals occur between two or more simultaneously sounding tones. Interval
Quality and Size An interval has two characteristics--quality and size. Quality is the type of interval—perfect, major, minor, diminished or augmented. The size is the difference in the tones within a scale. Listen to the audio examples for each of the following intervals with
their interval names and their pitch differences in half steps. A unison (not pictured) is two notes of
the same pitch produced by two different voices or instruments. Minor second (m2)-one half step
Major second (M2)-two half steps
Minor third (m3)--three half steps
Major third (M3)--four half steps
Perfect fourth (P4)--five half steps
Augmented fourth (A4)--six half steps
Diminished fifth (d5)--six half steps
Note: that the Augmented fourth and the diminished fifth are the same
interval but are described differently on the staff. They represent intervals
in different keys. For example, the augmented fourth could be in the key of G
major and the diminished fifth could be in the key of D-flat major.) Perfect fifth (P5)--seven half steps
Augmented fifth (A5)--eight half steps
Minor sixth (m6)--eight half steps
Major sixth (M6)--nine half steps
Minor seventh (m7)--ten half steps
Major seventh (M7)--eleven half steps
Perfect octave (P8)--twelve half steps
Minor ninth (m9)--thirteen half steps
Major ninth (M9)--fourteen half steps
Minor tenth (m10)--fifteen half steps
Major tenth (M10)--sixteen half steps
Intervals of a Major Scale The perfect intervals of notes in a major scale are the unison, octave,
fourth and fifth. Seconds, thirds, sixths and sevenths are usually major or
minor. Below is a staff showing the ascending intervals of the C major scale with C as the lowest note each time. Listening example
In order, the intervals are major second, major
third, perfect fourth, perfect fifth, major sixth, major seventh and perfect
octave. The descending intervals of the C major scale are
minor second, minor third, perfect fourth, perfect fifth, minor sixth, minor
seventh and perfect octave. (Create MIDI tif image file for this example and
wave files for both examples) |
||
