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Intervals...


mikeYekim

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I'm starting to dive into music theory after 6 years of playing... and it was going REALLY well (surprisingly) I understood the circle of fifths, and that by using it I can create any major or minor scale. I understand how to make simple chords. Ok, on to intervals. I understand generic intervals, how to find the value between two notes. I also understand (sort of) specific intervals, there in lies the problem, the sort of. I can't seem to properly identify the specific interval value when I'm looking at it on a staff. I'll count the half steps, and it'll seem to be say... a perfect fifth, but the app im using says I'm wrong, i just wish i knew why i was wrong. Does it matter what key signature it's in? if the piece is in G, then that means that any F in the staff is automatically a sharp, correct? Do I need to take this into account for intervals? If someone could explain this in detail, i don't know I'm just lost! idn_smilie.gif

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Yes, to get intervals from notation you need to take account of sharps and flats, either in the key sig, or as accidentals in the music.

However, you can always get the number of the interval from notation, because you just count lines and spaces.


So G up to F is a 7th, and is always 7 lines or spaces (4 lines 3 spaces or 3 lines 4 spaces), counting where G is as "1st". That's because each note letter has its own line or space, whether it's natural, sharp or flat. And it's note letters that you're counting: GABCDEF = 7, regardless of sharps and flats. Any kind of G to any kind of F is a 7th (assuming it's a simple interval, of course, not a compound one, more than an octave.)


What changes is what kind of 7th it is.

Ie, G to F = minor 7th

G to F# = major 7th

G# to F# = minor 7th

Gb to F = major 7th

G# to F = diminished 7th (might occur in key of A minor)

If you ever see Gb to F# (I doubt you ever will), that would be an "augmented 7th".


The point being that those notes are always in the same place on the staff (same distance apart). They just have various different sharp/flat combinations, which affect the size or quality of the 7th.


IOW, you count note letters (or staff lines/spaces) first, then half-steps.

Eg, G#-F is a diminished 7th. Ab-F (same number of half-steps) is a major 6th. The note letter count is what's different (and G# and Ab, while they sound the same, are in different places on the staff.)

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