Interval (music)
In music theory, an interval is a difference in pitch between two sounds.[1] An interval may be described as horizontal, linear, or melodic if it refers to successively sounding tones, such as two adjacent pitches in a melody, and vertical or harmonic if it pertains to simultaneously sounding tones, such as in a chord.[2][3]
In
In physical terms, an interval is the ratio between two sonic frequencies. For example, any two notes an octave apart have a frequency ratio of 2:1. This means that successive increments of pitch by the same interval result in an exponential increase of frequency, even though the human ear perceives this as a linear increase in pitch. For this reason, intervals are often measured in cents, a unit derived from the logarithm of the frequency ratio.
In Western music theory, the most common naming scheme for intervals describes two properties of the interval: the
Size
The size of an interval (also known as its width or height) can be represented using two alternative and equivalently valid methods, each appropriate to a different context: frequency ratios or cents.
Frequency ratios
The size of an interval between two notes may be measured by the
Most commonly, however, musical instruments are nowadays tuned using a different tuning system, called
Cents
The standard system for comparing interval sizes is with cents. The cent is a logarithmic unit of measurement. If frequency is expressed in a logarithmic scale, and along that scale the distance between a given frequency and its double (also called octave) is divided into 1200 equal parts, each of these parts is one cent. In twelve-tone equal temperament (12-TET), a tuning system in which all semitones have the same size, the size of one semitone is exactly 100 cents. Hence, in 12-TET the cent can be also defined as one hundredth of a semitone.
Mathematically, the size in cents of the interval from frequency f1 to frequency f2 is
Main intervals
The table shows the most widely used conventional names for the intervals between the notes of a
Intervals with different names may span the same number of semitones, and may even have the same width. For instance, the interval from D to F♯ is a major third, while that from D to G♭ is a diminished fourth. However, they both span 4 semitones. If the instrument is tuned so that the 12 notes of the chromatic scale are equally spaced (as in equal temperament), these intervals also have the same width. Namely, all semitones have a width of 100 cents, and all intervals spanning 4 semitones are 400 cents wide.
The names listed here cannot be determined by counting semitones alone. The rules to determine them are explained below. Other names, determined with different naming conventions, are listed in a separate section. Intervals smaller than one semitone (commas or microtones) and larger than one octave (compound intervals) are introduced below.
| Number of semitones |
Minor, major, or perfect intervals |
Short | Augmented or diminished intervals |
Short | Widely used alternative names |
Short | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Perfect unison |
P1 | Diminished second | d2 | help·info )
| ||
| 1 | Minor second |
m2 | Augmented unison | A1 | Semitone, half tone, half step | S | help·info )
|
| 2 | Major second | M2 | Diminished third | d3 | Tone , whole tone, whole step |
T | help·info )
|
| 3 | Minor third | m3 | Augmented second | A2 | Trisemitone | help·info )
| |
| 4 | Major third | M3 | Diminished fourth | d4 | help·info )
| ||
| 5 | Perfect fourth | P4 | Augmented third | A3 | help·info )
| ||
| 6 | Diminished fifth | d5 | Tritone | TT | help·info )
| ||
| Augmented fourth | A4 | ||||||
| 7 | Perfect fifth | P5 | Diminished sixth | d6 | help·info )
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| 8 | Minor sixth | m6 | Augmented fifth | A5 | help·info )
| ||
| 9 | Major sixth | M6 | Diminished seventh | d7 | help·info )
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| 10 | Minor seventh | m7 | Augmented sixth | A6 | help·info )
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| 11 | Major seventh | M7 | Diminished octave | d8 | help·info )
| ||
| 12 | Perfect octave | P8 | Augmented seventh | A7 | help·info )
| ||
Interval number and quality
In Western music theory, an interval is named according to its number (also called diatonic number) and quality. For instance, major third (or M3) is an interval name, in which the term major (M) describes the quality of the interval, and third (3) indicates its number.
Number
.The number of an interval is the number of letter names or
There is a
If one adds any accidentals to the notes that form an interval, by definition the notes do not change their staff positions. As a consequence, any interval has the same interval number as the corresponding natural interval, formed by the same notes without accidentals. For instance, the intervals C–G♯ (spanning 8 semitones) and C♯–G (spanning 6 semitones) are fifths, like the corresponding natural interval C–G (7 semitones).
Notice that interval numbers represent an inclusive count of encompassed staff positions or note names, not the difference between the endpoints. In other words, one starts counting the lower pitch as one, not zero. For that reason, the interval C–C, a perfect unison, is called a prime (meaning "1"), even though there is no difference between the endpoints. Continuing, the interval C–D is a second, but D is only one staff position, or diatonic-scale degree, above C. Similarly, C–E is a third, but E is only two staff positions above C, and so on. As a consequence, joining two intervals always yields an interval number one less than their sum. For instance, the intervals C–E and E–G are thirds, but joined together they form a fifth (C–G), not a sixth. Similarly, a stack of three thirds, such as C–E, E–G, and G–B, is a seventh (C–B), not a ninth.
This scheme applies to intervals up to an octave (12 semitones). For larger intervals, see § Compound intervals below.
Quality
The name of any interval is further qualified using the terms perfect (P),
Perfect
Perfect intervals are so-called because they were traditionally considered perfectly consonant,[6] although in Western classical music the perfect fourth was sometimes regarded as a less than perfect consonance, when its function was contrapuntal.[vague] Conversely, minor, major, augmented or diminished intervals are typically considered less consonant, and were traditionally classified as mediocre consonances, imperfect consonances, or dissonances.[6]
Within a diatonic scale[b] all unisons (P1) and octaves (P8) are perfect. Most fourths and fifths are also perfect (P4 and P5), with five and seven semitones respectively. One occurrence of a fourth is augmented (A4) and one fifth is diminished (d5), both spanning six semitones. For instance, in a C-major scale, the A4 is between F and B, and the d5 is between B and F (see table).
By definition, the inversion of a perfect interval is also perfect. Since the inversion does not change the pitch class of the two notes, it hardly affects their level of consonance (matching of their harmonics). Conversely, other kinds of intervals have the opposite quality with respect to their inversion. The inversion of a major interval is a minor interval, the inversion of an augmented interval is a diminished interval.
Major and minor
As shown in the table, a diatonic scale[b] defines seven intervals for each interval number, each starting from a different note (seven unisons, seven seconds, etc.). The intervals formed by the notes of a diatonic scale are called diatonic. Except for unisons and octaves, the diatonic intervals with a given interval number always occur in two sizes, which differ by one semitone. For example, six of the fifths span seven semitones. The other one spans six semitones. Four of the thirds span three semitones, the others four. If one of the two versions is a perfect interval, the other is called either diminished (i.e. narrowed by one semitone) or augmented (i.e. widened by one semitone). Otherwise, the larger version is called major, the smaller one minor. For instance, since a 7-semitone fifth is a perfect interval (P5), the 6-semitone fifth is called "diminished fifth" (d5). Conversely, since neither kind of third is perfect, the larger one is called "major third" (M3), the smaller one "minor third" (m3).
Within a diatonic scale,[b] unisons and octaves are always qualified as perfect, fourths as either perfect or augmented, fifths as perfect or diminished, and all the other intervals (seconds, thirds, sixths, sevenths) as major or minor.
