Indication of notes by countries
Italy | Do | Re | Mi | Fa | Sol | La | Si |
USA & UK | C | D | E | F | G | A | B |
The most popular description of the interval is in English.
A single note refers to a note such as Do (C), Re (D), Mi (E) and others that we already know.
Interval
An interval refers to distance between two notes.
Harmonics can be explained largely based on intervals and therefore you need to understand what intervals are.
Half tone & whole tone
A half tone is the interval between two adjacent notes on piano.
In this figure, a half tone is the interval between C and C#.
The interval between E and F or B and C is also a half tone.
Most of the tunes that we listen to are composed with these 12 tones.
A whole tone is the interval of 2 haft tones on piano.
In this figure, a whole tone refers to the interval between C and D.
A whole tone equals to combination of 2 half tones.
C major scale is one of the most popular scales in music and the scale consists of the tones C, D, E, F, G, A and B while E-F and B-C have half tone intervals and the rest of the tones have whole tone intervals.
Just like the piano, a single fret refers to a half tone and two frets to a whole tone in guitars.
If you find the C major scale in guitars,
you will see that it gets higher by one octave by 12 frets.
Types of accidental marks
# (Sharp): a sharp raises a note by a half tone.
♭ (Flat): a flat lowers a note by a haft tone.
## (Double Sharp): a double sharp raises a note by a whole tone.
♭♭ (Double Flat): a double flat lowers a note by a whole tone.
♮ (Natural Sign): a natural sign cancels previous accidental marks.
Now let’s see F# with guitar.
As a single fret in guitar refers to a half tone interval, we can move from F to the next fret close
to the body.
Now let’s see Gb with guitar.
As opposed to #, we need to move to the next fret close to the head to lower the note by a half
tone.
So you can see that those two notes have different names but are the same ones.
Such notes are called enharmonic.
Types of the intervals
An interval is described as a degree by calculating the distance between two notes from a standard note in a staff notation.
In the above score, the distance between C and C is described as the 1st degree, the distance between C and D as the 2nd degree, the distance between C and E as the 3rd degree and the distance between C and F as the 4th degree. The degree is described including notes between the starting and ending notes.
Note: the degree does not include the same notes with a sharp or a flat.
For example, there are five notes of C, C#, D, D# and E between C and E but the distance between C and C# or D and D# that those two notes have the same name but the latter with an accidental mark is considered as the 1st degree. So it means that the same tones indicate the 1st degree. Thus, the distance between C and E is the 3rd degree as there 3 notes of C, D and E in between.
Intervals that have the same degree can have different numbers of half tones.
As shown above, all the intervals have the same 3rd degrees but there are 4 half tones between C and E whereas there are 3 half tones between D and F. You can see that the distance between C and D is wider than that between D and F by a half tone.
So intervals are described by different names for distinction.
2nd, 3rd, 6th and 7th degrees are called either Major or Minor whereas 1st, 4th, 5th and 8th degrees are called Perfect. In addition, all major and perfect intervals are called Augmented when they become wider by a half tone and they are called Diminished when they become narrower by a half tone.
When an accidental mark is attached to a note, the distance between two notes gets wider by a half tone with a sharp to the higher note or with a flat to the lower note while the distance between two notes gets narrower by a half tone with a flat to the higher note or with a sharp to the lower note.
This can be described as the following table:
For example, when an interval of the major 3rd degree gets wider by a half tone with an accidental mark, it is called augmented 3rd degree and vice versa, it is called diminished 3rd degree.
In addition, when a diminished interval gets narrower by a half tone, it is called doubly diminished and vice versa, it is called doubly augmented.
Let’s look into the types of the intervals starting from the 1st degree.
1st Degree
Perfect First: same tone (unison)
Augmented Second: wider than the perfect first by a half tone
2nd Degree
Major Second: whole tone
Minor Second: half tone
Augmented Second: wider than the major second by a half tone (same as the minor third)
Diminished Second: narrower than the minor second by a half tone (same as the perfect first)
3rd Degree
Major Third: two whole tones (major third)
Minor Third: one whole tone + one half tone (minor third)
Augmented Third: wider than the major third by a half tone (same as the perfect fourth)
Diminished Third: narrower than the minor third by a half tone (same as the major second)
4th Degree
Perfect Fourth: two whole tones + one half tone (perfect fourth)
Augmented Fourth: wider than the perfect fourth by a half tone (same as the diminished fifth), three whole tones (tritone)
Diminished Fourth: narrower than the perfect fourth by a half tone (same as the major third)
5th Degree
Perfect Fifth: three whole tones + one half tone
Perfect Fifth
Augmented Fifth: wider than the perfect fifth by a half tone (same as the minor sixth)
Diminished Fifth: narrower than the perfect fifth by a half tone (same as the augmented fourth)
6th Degree
Major Sixth: four whole tones + one half tone
Minor Sixth: three whole tones + two half tones
Augmented Sixth: wider than the major sixth by a half tone (same as the minor seventh)
Diminished Sixth: narrower than the minor sixth (same as the perfect fifth)
7th Degree
Major Seventh: five whole tones + one half tone
Minor Seventh: four whole tones + two half tones
Augmented Seventh: wider than the major seventh by a half tone (Same as an octave)
Diminished Seventh: narrower than the minor seventh by a half tone (same as the major sixth)
8th Degree - usually called an octave
Perfect Eighth: five whole tones + two half tones
Augmented Eighth: wider than an octave by a half tone (one octave + minor second)
Diminished Eighth: narrower than an octave by a half tone (same as the major seventh)
I will split the course into two sections as it may seem too long.
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