MTME: Intervals (Part 5)
If you have made it this far, and you understand everything, I am really proud of you! Some of this is extremely difficult. Please know that in real life it gets much worse however in this class, things will only get the tiniest bit harder. This lesson is all about dealing with augmented and diminished notes.
Augmented and Diminished intervals can be tricky because of the enharmonic spellings of things. I apologize for this but there is nothing that can be done about it so you just need to understand it and then go on with life. I will give you an example of how this works and hopefully it will clear things up.
F-G# is what interval?
Step 1- Count the half steps. (F-F#, F#-G, G-G#).
Step 2- You counted three half steps so you look at the chart and you say minor 3rd. This is wrong because F is the first note and G is the 2nd note. A minor 3rd requires you to use the third note after F which is A. F to Ab is a minor third.
At this point you should have two questions.
1) G# and Ab are technically the same note so aren't I right?!?!
2) If I am not right, what is the answer?! The chart clearly says that intervals with 3 half steps are a minor 3rd.
The correct answer is Augmented 2nd. Because we are using the note G, this must be a 2nd of some sort since G is the 2nd note after F. We then took the interval one more half step beyond a major 2nd and the definition for augmented says that you use it when you go larger than the interval can go. Major 2nd is as far as G can normally go from F so because we have extended it one beyond, we have to use the term augmented.
Now things are going to get more complicated....
F-Gx is what interval?
Step 1- Count the half steps. (F-F#, F#-G, G-G#, G#-Gx).
Step 2- You counted four half steps so you look at the chart and you say major 3rd. This is wrong because F is the first note and G is the 2nd note. A major 3rd requires you to use the third note after F which is A. F to A is a major third but A is not the note that was asked for. It was Gx. Again, same enharmonic spelling but theoretically a different note.
Again, you should be "HUH?!?!?!"
F-Gx is four half steps. F to G is two half steps and gives you a major 2nd. Gx adds two more half steps so in this situation, F-Gx is a doubly augmented 2nd or AA2nd.
To avoid mistakes, when you are asked fro an interval, go through the following steps....
F to Cb is what interval?
Step 1- Ask yourself how many notes away is A to D (or just imagine an alphabet and count F G A B C). There are 5 alphabets there. This means that the answer must be some type of 5th.
Step 2- Count the half steps. F-F#, F#-G, G-G#, G#-A, A-Bb, Bb-Cb. In this case, there are 6 half steps.
Step 3- Look at the chart and find what interval is 6 half steps away. In this case, the chart tells you either A4 or d5. We established in step 1 that this was a 5 of some sort so the answer must be d5.
Let's try another one...
D-E# is what interval?
Step 1- How many notes away is D to E? If I look at the alphabet: A B C D E F G, I see that D and E consist of 2 alphabets so the answer must be some type of 2nd.
Step 2- Count the half steps. D-D#, D#-E, E-E#. There are three half steps.
Step 3- Check the chart. Three half steps is normally a minor 3rd however we know that the answer is some type of 2nd so we need to find how much more it is from the largest 2nd (major 2nd). In this case it is one more so the answer is A2.
Let's try a last one. This one is hard....
E#-Fbb is what interval?
Step 1- How many notes away is E to F? If I look at the alphabet above, I see that is 2 alphabets so the answer must be some type of 2nd.
Step 2- Count the half steps. E#-E, E-Fb
Step 3- There are two half steps but instead of counting up, I ended up counting backwards! I know my answer must be some type of 2nd and the smallest 2nd I have is 1 half step. This goes below that by 1 so the answer must be d2.
Try some of these for practice:
D to G# is what interval?
A to Cx is what interval?
B to F is what interval?
E to Gx is what interval?
Gx to Abb is what interval?
F-G# is what interval?
Step 1- Count the half steps. (F-F#, F#-G, G-G#).
Step 2- You counted three half steps so you look at the chart and you say minor 3rd. This is wrong because F is the first note and G is the 2nd note. A minor 3rd requires you to use the third note after F which is A. F to Ab is a minor third.
At this point you should have two questions.
1) G# and Ab are technically the same note so aren't I right?!?!
2) If I am not right, what is the answer?! The chart clearly says that intervals with 3 half steps are a minor 3rd.
The correct answer is Augmented 2nd. Because we are using the note G, this must be a 2nd of some sort since G is the 2nd note after F. We then took the interval one more half step beyond a major 2nd and the definition for augmented says that you use it when you go larger than the interval can go. Major 2nd is as far as G can normally go from F so because we have extended it one beyond, we have to use the term augmented.
Now things are going to get more complicated....
F-Gx is what interval?
Step 1- Count the half steps. (F-F#, F#-G, G-G#, G#-Gx).
Step 2- You counted four half steps so you look at the chart and you say major 3rd. This is wrong because F is the first note and G is the 2nd note. A major 3rd requires you to use the third note after F which is A. F to A is a major third but A is not the note that was asked for. It was Gx. Again, same enharmonic spelling but theoretically a different note.
Again, you should be "HUH?!?!?!"
F-Gx is four half steps. F to G is two half steps and gives you a major 2nd. Gx adds two more half steps so in this situation, F-Gx is a doubly augmented 2nd or AA2nd.
To avoid mistakes, when you are asked fro an interval, go through the following steps....
F to Cb is what interval?
Step 1- Ask yourself how many notes away is A to D (or just imagine an alphabet and count F G A B C). There are 5 alphabets there. This means that the answer must be some type of 5th.
Step 2- Count the half steps. F-F#, F#-G, G-G#, G#-A, A-Bb, Bb-Cb. In this case, there are 6 half steps.
Step 3- Look at the chart and find what interval is 6 half steps away. In this case, the chart tells you either A4 or d5. We established in step 1 that this was a 5 of some sort so the answer must be d5.
Let's try another one...
D-E# is what interval?
Step 1- How many notes away is D to E? If I look at the alphabet: A B C D E F G, I see that D and E consist of 2 alphabets so the answer must be some type of 2nd.
Step 2- Count the half steps. D-D#, D#-E, E-E#. There are three half steps.
Step 3- Check the chart. Three half steps is normally a minor 3rd however we know that the answer is some type of 2nd so we need to find how much more it is from the largest 2nd (major 2nd). In this case it is one more so the answer is A2.
Let's try a last one. This one is hard....
E#-Fbb is what interval?
Step 1- How many notes away is E to F? If I look at the alphabet above, I see that is 2 alphabets so the answer must be some type of 2nd.
Step 2- Count the half steps. E#-E, E-Fb
Step 3- There are two half steps but instead of counting up, I ended up counting backwards! I know my answer must be some type of 2nd and the smallest 2nd I have is 1 half step. This goes below that by 1 so the answer must be d2.
Try some of these for practice:
D to G# is what interval?
A to Cx is what interval?
B to F is what interval?
E to Gx is what interval?
Gx to Abb is what interval?