A We have been looking at intervals again.
There are lots of resources on the blog from when we did them before.
If you know all your major scales (which you should do by now!!) then it is easy to recognise/write major intervals. You can work out all the other intervals from that!
AND/OR you may want to think about how many semitones in each interval!
This is a link to an online test to practise recognising Major/Minor intervals.
(You should be aiming for 90% and above in this test. We will look at Augmented and Dimished intervals at the end of term).
This test also includes Augmented and Diminished intervals.
In addition to the methods on my blog from before (7th November), you might want to consider using the following.
Counting the semitones:
Inverting the interval:
For sevenths, if you turn the interval upside down (see below) you can work out the interval quite easily. A Major 7th is a semitone if you invert it and a Minor 7th is a tone if you invert it.
Intervals:
To work out the numerical interval between two notes:
Counting the bottom note as "1", count up to the top note.
eg. from C to A (C, D, E, F, G, A) is a 6th.
Similarly, on the stave:
Count all lines and spaces.
Important: There are no exceptions to this rule. Sharps, flats, double sharps and double flats make no difference to the number of the interval.
Major, Minor, Perfect,
Imagine the bottom note of the interval is the first degree of a Major scale.
If the upper note belongs to the scale, it will be:
Major 2nd
Major 3rd
Perfect 4th
Perfect 5th
Major 6th
Major 7th
Perfect 8ve
If you flatten the top note of a major interval it becomes minor.
Diminished, Augmented?
If you sharpen the top note of a major or perfect interval, it becomes augmented.
If you flatten the top note of a minor or perfect interval, it becomes diminished.
Spelling / Enharmonic Equivalent
It is possible for 2 different intervals to sound the same (and be played the same on a keyboard).
eg. From D to G sharp is an augmented 4th
From D to A flat is a diminished 5th
G sharp and A flat are enharmonically equivalent (ie. sound the same and occupy the same space on a keyboards) so these two different intervals sound the same.
The augmented 4th / diminished 5th is also called the tritone for, I hope, obvious reasons.
RESOURCES:
There are excellent online tutorials on numerical intervals, specific intervals and how to write intervals.
You can test how well you recognise written intervals here.
(If you are confident and want to test yourself on more difficult intervals, try this.)
Guitarists and bassists:You may find this useful
