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Major what? Augmented who? Intervals can be confusing, but by breaking them down into their smallest forms one can quickly demystify them and the start putting them to use almost immediately.

An interval can simply be defined as the distance between two notes -and while this may seem somewhat irrelevant at first glance, it is intervalic relationships that are the building blocks of all musical language.

Before we venture into more complex intervals it’s important to have a good grip on the simplest form of intervalic language (steps).

A step simply is when you move from one note to it’s neighboring note in alphabetic order. (Such as moving from C to D; or moving from A to G; or Eb to D etc…)

Types of steps:

Half steps: Half steps occur whenever two notes are sequential with no notes separating them. (Such as C# and D; or Bb and A; or E and F etc…)

Whole steps: Whole steps are two notes placed next to each other alphabetically, but are separated by one chromatic pitch. (For example: the notes C and D are a whole step apart as they are separated by the pitch C#/Db) Some other whole steps include E and F#; G and A; Eb and F etc…

Breaking It Down

Here’s a diagram that should help you to get your mind around the concept.

Some basic intervalic background:

• There are 12 unique pitches in western music.
• There are 7 unique letters in the musical alphabet. (A-G)
• Intervals are derived from the distance between unique pitches, but named by the distance between alphabetic note names.

Because 7 letters are given the task of representing these 12 different distances some intervals must be divided into two hemispheres.

The two hemispheres a note can be divided into are given the labels Major, and Minor. The upper of the two (the one higher in pitch) is the Major, where the lower of the two intervals (the one lower in pitch) is the Minor. If a pitch is indivisible (does not contain two hemispheres) it is said to be perfect.

While the above diagram does a good job of illustrating this point, the following diagram may also be of some use.

As you can see in this diagram, each interval type is enclosed in its own capsule with the seconds, thirds, sixths, and sevenths containing two hemispheres while the other intervals appear in their own capsules as they are indivisible. The tritone appears in black as it is the most dissonant interval, it is a half octave, and most importantly because it does not fall under any of the Major, Minor, or Perfect interval categories. Instead a tritone is referred to as an augmented 4th, or as a diminished 5th.

Augmented and Diminished:

It is important to note that the tritone is not the only interval that can be referred to as augmented or diminished. An Augmented interval is any interval which falls a half step above a major or perfect interval. Where as a Diminished interval is any interval which falls a half step below a minor or perfect interval.

Additional Information:

The easiest way of memorizing intervalic relationships is through the use of a key signature. A key signature identifies major and perfect intervals and allows you to use them as reference points. More about key signatures here.

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