Topic outline

  • Welcome!

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    With this course you can practise:

    • Major and minor seconds
    • Major and minor thirds

    Recommended to study before this course:

    • Notes 1A-D
    • Intervals 1

  • Interval qualities

    The name of any interval is qualified using the terms perfect (P), major (M), minor (m), augmented (A), and diminished (d). This is called its interval quality. (Wikipedia)

    With this course you can practise seconds and thirds which can be major or minor.

    2 3 6 7

    1 4 5 8

      augmented 

      augmented 

    MAJOR

    PERFECT

    MINOR

    diminished

    diminished

    Nice to know. Intervals can be classified into two groups:

    • 2, 3, 6, 7 are usually major or minor (sometimes also diminished or augmented)
    • 1, 4, 5, 8 are usually perfect (sometimes also diminished or augmented)

  • Diatonic seconds

    The quality of a diatonic second is major or minor.

    Seconds in C major scale are shown in the picture below. There's two minor seconds E-F and B-C. Others are major seconds.


    A major second is also called as a whole step and minor second is a half step.

  • Seconds and accidentals

    The quality of an interval is also influenced by accidentals. The major can become minor and vice versa.

    Hence if

    • the upper note of a major second is lowered or the lower note is raised it becomes minor second
    • the upper note of a minor second is raised or the lower note is lowered it becomes major second
    • both notes have same accidental, the interval (distance) doesn't change

    Example: 


  • Sound of seconds

    In music, consonance and dissonance are categorizations of simultaneous or successive sounds. Consonance is associated with sweetness, pleasantness, and acceptability; dissonance is associated with harshness, unpleasantness, or unacceptability. (Wikipedia)

    Seconds are dissonant intervals. A minor 2nd is even more dissonant than major 2nd.

    Melodic (successive) 
    • major 2nd is DO-RE
    • minor 2nd is TI-DO

  • Diatonic thirds

    Thirds

    A third indluding two major seconds is a major third (M2+M2 = M3). 

    A third including a minor second is a minor third (M2+m2 = m3).




  • Thirds and accidentals

    The quality of a third is also influenced by accidentals. The major can become minor and vice versa. For example:

    • C-E is M3
    • C-Eb is m3
    • C#-E is m3
    • Cb-Eb is M3

    etc.

  • Sound of thirds

    Major third is the lower interval of a major triad DO-MI.

    Minor third is the lower interval of a minor triad LA-DO.