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Intervals And Their Qualities

Intervals And Their Qualities

This gives more information about intervals and their 'qualities.' Before tackling this information you should view the video on Note Reading Made Easy. 
It is important that you study music theory by following the right gradient; the proper gradient is outlined in the article about gradients.


Intervals


The definition of the term interval is the distance between any two notes. The distance is counted by simply counting up the letters inclusively from one note to the next.
For example; C to G would be called a fifth because there are five letters from C to G (counting C and G); CDEFG.

Interval of a 5th

In counting the interval on the staff, you would count the note you go from and then count every space and line until you got to the second note and count it as well. The above example would be called a harmonic interval since the two notes would played simultaneously.
An interval can also be melodic, meaning the two notes would be played separately as in a melody;



The Qualities

Since C to G would be a 5th but C to G flat would also be a fifth, there was needed a way to make a distinction between two such intervals. Hence the four qualities. The four qualities are; Major (Perfect), minor, augmented and diminished.
Major or Perfect can be thought of as the default. They both mean the same thing thing except that the term perfect applies only to 4ths, 5ths and Octaves (8ths). What Major or Perfect means is that the upper note of the interval is found in the scale of the bottom note.
For example; all intervals that have C as the lower note will give you Major and Perfect intervals as long as the upper notes are naturals;




If, for example, the lower note is G, then you figure from the scale of G, which would mean you use an F sharp for the 7th since the key signature of G major has an F sharp in it;



The following would be applied then, to get the other 'qualities;'
A Major interval becomes minor by making it a half-step smaller and a minor interval becomes diminished by making it a half-step smaller. A Major interval becomes Augmented by making it a half-step larger.
A Perfect interval become diminished by making it a half-step smaller-there is no minor quality for Perfect intervals. A Perfect interval becomes augmented by making it a half-step larger.
Obviously there are several different ways to make an interval larger or smaller; you can flat the upper note or sharp the lower on to make it smaller and, conversely you might sharp the upper note or flat the lower note to make it larger. A note that is already flatted or sharped could be changed to a natural. For example, a Perfect 4th of F to B flat could become augmented by making the B a natural.
Finally; Major is designated by capitals, as in M3rd. Minor is shown by lower case as in m2nd. Augmented uses a plus sign as in 5+ and diminished uses a very small zero that resembles a degree sign.


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