Musical intervals (Western music)

This page is part of www.amarilli.co.uk by Brian Capleton

Page 6

NEXT Page

Find Page 1

www.amarilli.co.uk

piano pages

guitar pages

You will need Windows media player installed, or something else that can play mp3 files!

Broadband is recommended

Continued...

The table below shows the interval names and the number of semitones. Click on the buttons to hear the intervals.

Interval name	No. of semitones	Listen together	Listen in sequence
unison	0
minor second	1
major second	2
minor third	3
major third	4
perfect fourth	5
(tritone)	(6)
perfect fifth	7
minor sixth	8
major sixth	9
minor seventh	10
major seventh	11
octave (eighth)	12

Notice the interval of 6 semitones is generically called a tritone. This term is exempt from all the rules about qualifying terms. In the middle ages this interval was known in Latin as the diabolus in musica, or "devil in music". Any interval of six semitones on the keyboard could be generically called a tritone, but it may also have another name, depending on the names of the notes at each end of the interval. It is included in the table in order to complete the list of semitone sizes.

It may be that when we count the semitones, the number is not as listed in the table above. If this is the case, the interval name must be prefixed with the terms augmented or diminished. Any of the intervals shown in the table (except the tritone) can also be augmented or diminished. An interval is augmented if it is one semitone larger and diminished if it is one semitone smaller than the number shown in the table.

NEXT