BASIC INTERVALS:

Intervals are how the gaps between notes are measured. (Nothing scary!)




There are FIVE types of Intervals:

• Major (Happy)


• Minor (Sad)


• Augmented (Stretched by a Half Step)


• Diminished (Squished by a Half Step)


• Compound (Over an Octave, minus 7)


We will focus on Major and Minor, to begin with. 




These are dealt with by relating them to your Major and Minor Scales.

Dealing with the white notes on the piano:




(This may help:)

!
Basic Intervals

YouTube clip on Intervals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5txFkdX4_c

Interval Name Ascending Descending

Unison SAMESIES SAMESIES

Minor 2nd JAWS Für Elise

Major 2nd Happy Birthday 3 Blind Mice

Minor 3rd So Long, Farewell Oh, Say Can You See

Major 3rd When the Saints Opening of Beethoven’s 5th

Perfect 4th Amazing Grace London’s Burning

Perfect 5th Starwars/2001: A Space

Odyssey

Minor 6th The Entertainer

Major 6th My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean
 Phantom of the Opera
NBC

Minor 7th Somewhere

Major 7th Maria

Octave Somewhere Over the Rainbow Beethoven’s 9th (@nd Movt.)

In the key of C:

Interval Name Example of Interval in the Key of What would it be in the Key of
C G?

Unison C-C

Minor 2nd C - D♭

Major 2nd C-D

Minor 3rd C - E♭

Major 3rd C-E

Perfect 4th C-F

Perfect 5th C-G

Minor 6th C - A♭

Major 6th C-A

Minor 7th C - B♭

Major 7th C-B

Octave C - C (8 notes above)

 SNEAK PEEK:


• ADVANCED INTERVALS:
AUGMENTED - this means made larger - in musical terms, by a Half
Step. So, an AUGMENTED FOURTH would be:

• C - F♯
• Likewise, an AUGMENTED FIFTH would be C - G♯.

• DIMINISHED - this means made smaller, again by a Half Step. So,

start with the ORIGINAL interval. 


• A DIMINISHED FIFTH would be C - G♭ 


(NOT F♯ - because F is definitely still, technically, a FOURTH -
Watch out for this.)

• A DIMINISHED FOURTH would be C - F♭ - what is special about

this?

(It sounds the same as E - but on a mathematical and theoretical level, it
is still and F♭.)





With this logic, you can EXTEND your MAJOR and MINOR
INTERVALS!

COMPOUND INTERVALS are for when the interval is over an octave -

A major 10th becomes a Compound 3rd - Take away seven from the
original Interval.

We will visit these later - don’t panic!