musical intervals
Steps between notes
Musical intervals are the distances in pitch between two notes.
An interval is measured by counting the steps between notes on a scale: a third spans three notes, a fifth spans five.
Intervals can be melodic (notes played in sequence) or harmonic (notes played simultaneously).
Musicians describe intervals as major, minor, perfect, augmented, or diminished depending on the exact number of semitones: a minor third, a perfect fifth.
Intervals are the building blocks of melody and harmony—they determine whether music sounds consonant or dissonant, cheerful or melancholy.
- tritoneSix-semitone musical interval
- perfect fifthSeven-semitone musical interval
- fifthFive's place in sequence
- fourthOrdinal for position four
- noteShort written record
octave · semitone · half step · whole step · seconds · minor third · harmonics · ear training · pitch recognition · chromatic scale · sixth · equal temperament · psychoacoustics · cents · scales · consonance · Pythagorean tuning · raga
- liberal artshumanities, trivium, philosophy, history, classical education
- proportiongolden ratio, golden mean, golden section, phi, golden rectangle
- ancient musiclyre, pan pipes, panpipes, tibia, shofar
- PythagoreanismPythagoras, Pythagorean theorem, monad, dyad, sacred numbers
musical intervalsrhythm
Patterned stress and silence
tempo · duration · meter · beat · time signature
musical intervalsglissando
Rapid pitch sweep
portamento · pitch bend · slides · microtones · unison
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