Intervals
Review
Interval
The distance between two notes. Intervals are the basic building blocks of melody and harmony.
Melodic Interval
Two notes follow each other in time.
Harmonic Interval
Two notes sound at the same time.
An interval name has two parts.
Quality
A word describing the interval's relationship to a major scale.
Distance
A number or word describing the pitch distance between the two notes.
Distance: Interval Number
The distance of an interval is determined by counting up from the bottom note to the top note.
The bottom note is counted as 1. Below is an example of a melodic interval of a 4th.
Notice how the bottom note is counted as 1, the space above as 2, the line above that as 3 and the top note as 4.
1
2
3
4
Two intervals have special names.
Unison
Two notes that are the same written note. (A distance of 1.)
Octave
Two notes that are an 8th apart.
It may be helpful for you to notice that each interval has its own unique look.
The 5 smaller intervals are relatively easy to recognize by their shape.
Unison
The same note
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2nd
A space to a line or line to a space.
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3rd
Consecutive lines or spaces.
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4th
One note on a line and another on a space but will include one line between the two notes.
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5th
Both notes on lines with a line between or both on a space with a space between.
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6th
Both notes on lines with a line between or both on a space with a space between.
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7th
More difficult to recognize visually.
Space tSpace to space with two space between or line to line with two lines between.
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Octave
More difficult to recognize visually.
Space to line with three spaces between or line to space with three line between.
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Interval Type
Perfect Intervals
Intervals that are the distance of a unison, 4th, 5th or octave.
Major Intervals
Intervals that are the distance of a 2nd, 3rd, 6th or 7th.
The interval type is important when determining the quality of the interval.
We will look at this in detail in our next section.