Minor third - Wikipedia

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_third

Minor third
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the music theory of Western culture, a minor

third is a musical interval that encompasses
three half steps, or semitones. Staff notation
represents the minor third as encompassing three
staff positions (see: interval number). The minor
third is one of two commonly occurring thirds. It
is called minor because it is the smaller of the
two: the major third spans an additional
semitone. For example, the interval from A to C
is a minor third, as the note C lies three
semitones above A, and (coincidentally) there
are three staff positions from A to C. Diminished
and augmented thirds span the same number of
staff positions, but consist of a different number
of semitones (two and five). The minor third is a
skip melodically.
Notable examples of ascending minor thirds
include the opening two notes of "Greensleeves"
and of "Light My Fire".

Minor third
Inverse

major sixth
Name

Other names

Abbreviation

m3
Size

Semitones

Interval class

Just interval

6:5, 19:16,[1] 32:27

Cents

Equal temperament

300

24 equal temperament

300

Just intonation

316, 298, 294

The minor third may be derived from the harmonic series as the
interval between the fifth and sixth harmonics, or from the 19th
harmonic.
The minor third is commonly used to express sadness in music,
and research shows that this mirrors its use in speech, as a tone
similar to a minor third is produced during sad speech.[2] It is
also a quartal (based on an ascendance of one or more perfect
fourths) tertian interval, as opposed to the major third's
quintality. The minor third is also obtainable in reference to a
fundamental note from the undertone series, while the major
third is obtainable as such from the overtone series. (See
Otonality and Utonality.)

Minor third
tempered or

Play equal
just (6:5).

19th harmonic (19:16), E19

Play .

The minor scale is so named because of the presence of this

interval between its tonic and mediant (1st and 3rd) scale
degrees. Minor chords too take their name from the presence of this interval built on the chord's
root (provided that the interval of a perfect fifth from the root is also present or implied).
A minor third, in just intonation, corresponds to a pitch ratio of 6:5 ( play ) or 315.64 cents. In an

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Minor third - Wikipedia

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_third

equal tempered tuning, a minor third is equal to three semitones,

a ratio of 21/4:1 (about 1.189), or 300 cents, 15.64 cents
narrower than the 6:5 ratio. In other meantone tunings it is
wider, and in 19 equal temperament it is very nearly the 6:5
ratio of just intonation; in more complex schismatic
temperaments, such as 53 equal temperament, the "minor third"
is often significantly flat (being close to Pythagorean tuning
( play )), although the "augmented second" produced by such
Comparison, in cents, of intervals
scales is often within ten cents of a pure 6:5 ratio. If a minor
at or near a minor third
third is tuned in accordance with the fundamental of the
overtone series, the result is a ratio of 19:16, this produces an
interval of 297.51 cents.[3] The 12-TET minor third (300 cents) more closely approximates the
19-limit (Limit (music)) minor third 16:19 Play (297.51 cents, the nineteenth harmonic) with
only 2.49 cents error.[4] M. Ergo mistakenly claimed that the nineteenth harmonic was the highest
ever written, for the bass-trumpet in Richard Wagner's WWV 86 Der Ring des Nibelungen (1848 to
1874), when Robert Schumann's Op. 86 Konzertstck for 4 Horns and Orchestra (1849) features the
twentieth harmonic (octave of the fifth harmonic, or major third) in the first horn part three times.[5]
Other pitch ratios are given related names, the septimal minor third with ratio 7:6 and the tridecimal
minor third with ratio 13:11 in particular.
The minor third is classed as an imperfect consonance and is considered one of the most consonant
intervals after the unison, octave, perfect fifth, and perfect fourth.
The sopranino saxophone and E clarinet sound in the concert pitch ( C ) a minor third higher than
the written pitch; therefore, to get the sounding pitch one must transpose the written pitch up a
minor third. Instruments in A most commonly the A clarinet, sound a minor third lower than the
written pitch.

Pythagorean minor third

In music theory, a semiditone (or Pythagorean minor third[6])
is the interval 32:27 (approximately 294.13 cents). It is the
minor third in Pythagorean tuning. The 32:27 Pythagorean
minor third arises in the C major scale between D and F.[7]
Play
It can be thought of as two octaves minus three justly tuned
fifths. It is narrower than a justly tuned minor third by a
syntonic comma.

Semiditone (32:27) on C

Play .

See also

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_third

musical tuning
List of meantone intervals
Pythagorean interval

References
1. Haluska, Jan (2003). The Mathematical Theory of Tone Systems,
p.xxiv. ISBN 0-8247-4714-3. 19th harmonic, overtone minor
tone.
2. Curtis ME, Bharucha JJ (June 2010). "The minor third
Semiditone as two octaves minus
communicates sadness in speech, mirroring its use in music".
three justly tuned fifths.
Emotion. 10 (3): 33548. doi:10.1037/a0017928.
PMID 20515223.
3. Dowsett, Peter (2015). Audio Production Tips: Getting the Sound Right at the Source, p.3.6.3. CRC.
ISBN 9781317614203. "The minor third, however, does not appear in the harmonic series until the
nineteenth harmmonic. Your ear almost expects to hear the major third ([on A:] C), and when that is
replaced with a more distantly related note, this makes the listener feel more 'unpleasant', 'tense', or
'sad'."
4. Alexander J. Ellis (translating Hermann Helmholtz): On the Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis
for the Theory of Music, page 455. Dover Publications, Inc., New York, 1954. "16:19...The 19th
harmonic, ex. 297.513 [cents]". Later reprintings: ISBN 1-150-36602-8 or ISBN 1-143-49451-2.
5. Prout, Ebenezer (December 1, 1908). "In the Forecourts of Instrumentation", The Monthly Musical
Record (https://books.google.com/books?id=N_E2AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA268&
dq=%22nineteenth+harmonic%22+music&hl=en&
sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwji7teRx_PJAhVU8WMKHXHpCFQQ6AEINjAD#v=onepage&
q=%22nineteenth%20harmonic%22&f=false). p.268.
6. John Fonville. "Ben Johnston's Extended Just Intonation- A Guide for Interpreters", p.124, Perspectives
of New Music, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Summer, 1991), pp. 106-137.
7. Paul, Oscar (1885). A manual of harmony for use in music-schools and seminaries and for
self-instruction (https://books.google.com/books?id=4WEJAQAAMAAJ&
dq=musical+interval+%22pythagorean+major+third%22&source=gbs_navlinks_s), p.165. Theodore
Baker, trans. G. Schirmer.

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Categories: Minor intervals Thirds (music)
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