LO1 - Know About Different Pitches and Intervals
Intervals
Major Intervals;
There are four types of major intervals. They are; major 2nd, major 3rd, major 6th and major 7th. In a major 2nd interval there are two semitones. In a major 3rd interval there are four semitones. In a major 6th interval there are nine semitones and in a major 7th interval there are 11. All of these intervals are simple intervals because they are all within one octave.
Minor Intervals;
There are four types of minor intervals as well as there being four types of major intervals. They are; minor 2nd, minor 3rd, minor 6th and minor 7th. In a minor 2nd interval there is one semitone. In a minor 3rd interval there are three semitones. In a minor 6th interval there are eight semitones and in a minor 7th interval there are ten semitones.
Perfect Intervals;
There are four types of perfect intervals. They are; unison, perfect 4th, perfect 5th and perfect octave. There are no semitones in a perfect unison because it is the same note, hence the name ‘unison’. In a perfect 4th there are five semitones. In a perfect 5th there are seven semitones. In a perfect octave there are 12 semitones. Anything above a perfect octave would be a compound interval.
Augmented Intervals;
In order to make an interval into a Augmented interval you will have to add a semitone, or in other words widen the gap in the interval by one semi tone. An example of this is that an augmented fifth interval is one semitone wider that a perfect fifth interval. An augmented chord is a chord that contains a augmented interval, almost always on the fifth of the chord. An augmented triad is almost exactly the same as a major triad only the fifth has been raised by one semitone. It is the harmony that the whole tone scale is based around.
Diminished Intervals;
In order to make an interval diminished you must do the exact opposite of what you have to do to make an interval augmented. This means that you must narrow the interval by one semitone. This process can be referred to as diminution. An example of this is that a diminished fifth interval is one semitone narrower than a perfect fifth interval and that a diminished seventh interval is one semitone narrower than a minor seventh interval. You will commonly come across diminished intervals and diminished chords in jazz music and heavy metal music but they are very rarely come across in char or pop music.
Simple Intervals;
A simple interval is any interval that has less than 12 semitones in. This is because an octave is 1 semitones and a simple interval con only be found within an octave.
Compound Intervals;
Compound intervals are all of the intervals in music that are greater than a octave. There are 12 semitones in an octave so amy interval with a gap of more than 12 semitones is a compound interval.
There are four types of major intervals. They are; major 2nd, major 3rd, major 6th and major 7th. In a major 2nd interval there are two semitones. In a major 3rd interval there are four semitones. In a major 6th interval there are nine semitones and in a major 7th interval there are 11. All of these intervals are simple intervals because they are all within one octave.
Minor Intervals;
There are four types of minor intervals as well as there being four types of major intervals. They are; minor 2nd, minor 3rd, minor 6th and minor 7th. In a minor 2nd interval there is one semitone. In a minor 3rd interval there are three semitones. In a minor 6th interval there are eight semitones and in a minor 7th interval there are ten semitones.
Perfect Intervals;
There are four types of perfect intervals. They are; unison, perfect 4th, perfect 5th and perfect octave. There are no semitones in a perfect unison because it is the same note, hence the name ‘unison’. In a perfect 4th there are five semitones. In a perfect 5th there are seven semitones. In a perfect octave there are 12 semitones. Anything above a perfect octave would be a compound interval.
Augmented Intervals;
In order to make an interval into a Augmented interval you will have to add a semitone, or in other words widen the gap in the interval by one semi tone. An example of this is that an augmented fifth interval is one semitone wider that a perfect fifth interval. An augmented chord is a chord that contains a augmented interval, almost always on the fifth of the chord. An augmented triad is almost exactly the same as a major triad only the fifth has been raised by one semitone. It is the harmony that the whole tone scale is based around.
Diminished Intervals;
In order to make an interval diminished you must do the exact opposite of what you have to do to make an interval augmented. This means that you must narrow the interval by one semitone. This process can be referred to as diminution. An example of this is that a diminished fifth interval is one semitone narrower than a perfect fifth interval and that a diminished seventh interval is one semitone narrower than a minor seventh interval. You will commonly come across diminished intervals and diminished chords in jazz music and heavy metal music but they are very rarely come across in char or pop music.
Simple Intervals;
A simple interval is any interval that has less than 12 semitones in. This is because an octave is 1 semitones and a simple interval con only be found within an octave.
Compound Intervals;
Compound intervals are all of the intervals in music that are greater than a octave. There are 12 semitones in an octave so amy interval with a gap of more than 12 semitones is a compound interval.
Pitches
Tones;
A tone is the same as two semitones. It is the second smallest interval used in music. When played on a guitar a tone it is two frets. When a tone is played on a piano it is two consecutive white or black keys (the same interval as two semitones).
Semi-tones;
A semitone is half of a tone. When played on a piano it is a white note to a black note or a black note to a white note. When played on guitar it is one fret. A semitone is the smallest interval used in music. This is simply because there is no smaller interval.
Degrees of the Scale;
A scale degree is the name given to a particular note of a scale to tell musicians it’s where the note is relative to the tonic (the main note of the scale). The tonic is conceded to be the first degree of the scale. In a major or minor scale the supertonic follows. The supertonic is a whole tone above the tonic and is seen as the second degree of the scale. The third degree of the scale is the mediant. The mediant is midway between the tonic (first degree) and the dominant (fifth degree) of the scale. The fourth degree is the subdominant. It is one degree lower than the dominant. The dominant degree in a scale is the second most important degree (the most important degree being the tonic). After the dominant is the sixth degree of the scale this is called the submediant. The submediant is midway between the tonic and the subdominant. After the subdominant there is the subtonic. The subtonic is the seventh degree of the scale and it leads onto the tonic which is the final note.
Here is an example of all the different degrees of a scale using a C scale;
Tonic- C – 1st
Supertonic- D – 2nd
Mediant- E/Eb – 3rd
Subdominant- F – 4th
Dominant- G – 5th
Submediant- A/Ab – 6th
Subtonic- B/Bb – 7th
Tonic- C – 8th/1st
The picture below shows all of the tones on both the Treble and Bass staves.
A tone is the same as two semitones. It is the second smallest interval used in music. When played on a guitar a tone it is two frets. When a tone is played on a piano it is two consecutive white or black keys (the same interval as two semitones).
Semi-tones;
A semitone is half of a tone. When played on a piano it is a white note to a black note or a black note to a white note. When played on guitar it is one fret. A semitone is the smallest interval used in music. This is simply because there is no smaller interval.
Degrees of the Scale;
A scale degree is the name given to a particular note of a scale to tell musicians it’s where the note is relative to the tonic (the main note of the scale). The tonic is conceded to be the first degree of the scale. In a major or minor scale the supertonic follows. The supertonic is a whole tone above the tonic and is seen as the second degree of the scale. The third degree of the scale is the mediant. The mediant is midway between the tonic (first degree) and the dominant (fifth degree) of the scale. The fourth degree is the subdominant. It is one degree lower than the dominant. The dominant degree in a scale is the second most important degree (the most important degree being the tonic). After the dominant is the sixth degree of the scale this is called the submediant. The submediant is midway between the tonic and the subdominant. After the subdominant there is the subtonic. The subtonic is the seventh degree of the scale and it leads onto the tonic which is the final note.
Here is an example of all the different degrees of a scale using a C scale;
Tonic- C – 1st
Supertonic- D – 2nd
Mediant- E/Eb – 3rd
Subdominant- F – 4th
Dominant- G – 5th
Submediant- A/Ab – 6th
Subtonic- B/Bb – 7th
Tonic- C – 8th/1st
The picture below shows all of the tones on both the Treble and Bass staves.
Working on Musician to Improve my Pitches and Intervals
Level 1
I have been working on a piece of software called musician to help me to improve my pitches and intervals. I have started on the very basic levels of the software and I am going to improve to the higher levelswhen I have mastered the lowest. The screen shot above is a screenshot of me passing part of the first level. The pass this I had to identify lots of pitches on the treble clef and then I had to identify lots of pitches on the bass clef. I did pass this level. It’s hard to read the righting in the picture but it tells you that I have passed and that I scored 90% witch is the equivalent to nine out of ten.
In this screenshot you can see that I am still working on level one of the soft wear musician which is designed to improve your music theory when you work your way up through the levels. As a part of this section I had to identify a lot of different notes and all of the symbols that represent the different times of rest that each note is. I had to identify notes like minims, crotchets, semibreves, quavers, semiquavers and Demi quavers. The writing on this screenshot is very had to read but it says that I got 100% in this section. I have also gone back and taken some notes on this section so that I don’t forget the new informationthat have learned.
This small section is still a part of level one. In this section I am still working with the same kind of thing that I learned in the last section. I am starting to get a lot more of a understanding of semibreves and how many crotchet rests it would take to equal out the time of this note. I answered a lot of questions similar to that kind of thing on all of the different types of rests like the crotchets and the minims and the quavers and the semiquavers. In the screenshot the righting is too small to read but it says that I have also scored 100% in this part of level one.
The next part of level one that I worked on was my time signatures. I know understand more of the reason behind the time signature and the reason why a bar would be in a ¾ time signature as opposed to being in a 4/4 time signature. I now understand a lot more about the notes and the different amounts of time that they represent so I have found this section a lot easier that I would have before I had done the beginning of level one on musician. In this part of level one I have had to prove that I know what 2/4 and 2/4 and 4/4 time signatures are as well as having to inset that bar lie to make a group of notes in the right bar as whatever the time signature says. The screenshot has very small righting so it is very hard to read but it says that I got 100% and that I got 15 out of 15 in this section.
Level 2
I have now begun to work on level 2 on musician. Level two is a bit harder than level one and it begins to introduce you to a lot of other musical rests and different notes that last different amounts of time. If you can see in the screenshot next to this righting you will be able to see that I am working on more complicated rests. The example that is being demonstrated in the screenshot is a semiquaver rest. The righting in the screenshot tells me that a semiquaver rest represents 3/8 of silence in a simple time signature like 4/4. In the screenshot they have also written out a score and there is a feature that allows you to lessen to the notes that have been written out on the score. I found this feature very helpful when I was trying to understand the feel that a semiquaver rest brings to a piece of music.
In this screenshot you can see that I have scored 100 present in one of the beginning sections of musician level two. In order to get all of the questions right in this section I had to identify I range of
notes and dotted notes and rests and dotted rests. I think that level two is harder than level one but I feel although I am beginning to get the hang of the basic notes and rests and how many beats each of them represent. In this section I saw a few things that I had never seen before; they were things like the dotted semiquaver rest and the dotted crotchet rest. I also came across a dotted minim and dotted crotchets and lots of other simple notes and rests that I did identify correctly.
notes and dotted notes and rests and dotted rests. I think that level two is harder than level one but I feel although I am beginning to get the hang of the basic notes and rests and how many beats each of them represent. In this section I saw a few things that I had never seen before; they were things like the dotted semiquaver rest and the dotted crotchet rest. I also came across a dotted minim and dotted crotchets and lots of other simple notes and rests that I did identify correctly.
In this section it very much followed on from the last section where I was identifying the names of the notes and of the rests but instead of identifying the manes I had to identify how many of a certain rests would be needed to equal the duration of the rhythmic value. I found this harder than I found the last section so I had to redo it after my first attempt where I got 70% when I need to get 80% in order over on to the next section. The next time that I did the section I got 80 %. 80% is enough to move on to the next section. I have recognised this as something that I should do some extra work on at home and I know that I will have to work on it a lot if I am going to get it to really stick in my head. In the screenshot to the left of
this paragraph you it reads that I scored 80% in this section and that I am now free to move on the next section.
this paragraph you it reads that I scored 80% in this section and that I am now free to move on the next section.
Scors of music I am going to perform
The score below is the score of a song called Only Love by Ben Howard
I have identified the pitches and the intervals
Pitches in Only Love
On the score to the right you can see that I have marked all of the pitches on the stave with a yellow pen. This song has a lot of flats in. You can see that I have labelled the notes on the bass sequence with a blue highlighter pen. The bass notes in the introduction and the first verse follow the same sequence of two notes. These notes are F and Ab. The interval that there notes have between them is a minor third interval. I have also marked all of the different pitches on the treble clefs as well as ones in the bass clef. The treble clefs have the melody in the guitar sequence that follows the vocal melody. The pitches for the opening vocal melody has a lot more variety in the range of notes that are used in the first verse of the song. The lyrics for the first part of the first verse in the song are: darling you’re with me, always around me, only love, only love, only love. The melody for these lyrics is veer catchy and I have written out all of the pitches that make it up as they are written in the sheet music. It goes like this: Ab, Ab,Eb, C, Bb, Ab, Eb, C, Bb, Eb, Eb, Eb, Eb, Eb, Eb. |
The picture above is a close upon a perfect 6th and a minor 3rd interval in Only Love.
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Intervals in only love
There are a lot of intervals in only love. I have found a lot of intervals even in the first page of the sheet music and I have labelled them in on the sore using a pencil to connect the notes and then righting the names of the intervals very small next to it. You cannot quite see them in the picture since my phones camera is not very high quality. I have found variety of different minor and major intervals in the few bars. There is a minor third interval in the second bar when the sequence in the pitches jumps from the middle C note to Eb. There is also a minor third interval on the bass clef during the first two bars when on the first bar the one not in the bass clef is F in the first bar and then Ab in the second bar. There is then a Perfect sith interval in the third bar where it jumps from the note Eb to C. |
The score below is the score of a song called Heartbeats as arranged by Jose Gonzalez
I have identified the pitches and the intervals
Pitches in Heartbeats
In heartbeats there are a lot of different pitches on the staves, both the treble stave and the bass stave. Heartbeats is played in a alternative tuning on the guitar which involves dropping the E string down a whole tone to a D and then dropping the G string down one half-semitone to a F#. You than put the capo on the first fret if you wish to play it in the same key as it is on the sheet music that I bought. Because of this alternative tuning and the nature of the guitar part there are a lot of octaves on the note Bb in this song. In this song there are a lot of flats. The pitches in the opening guitar riff are mostly made out of flattened notes. The guitar riff begins the song on its own and is written on the bass clef on my sheet music. The pitches in the opening phrase in bar one go like this: Eb, D, E, E, Eb, D, Eb, Eb, Eb, Bb. The picture that I have uploaded to the left of this paragraph is only page one of the sheet music so it only shows the introduction and the first part of the first verse. This doesn’t matter though because the guitar part that is played in the intro is played throughout the whole song and it only changes in the bridge section. I have also written out all of the pitches that are using the vocal melody on the treble stave when it comes in and in the first bar they are: G, G, G, Bb, F, F. |
Close upon a major 7th and a minor 2nd interval in the second bar of Heartbeats.
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Intervals in Heartbeats
In the first page of Heartbeats by Jose Gonzales there are a lot of different intervals. There are some Major intervals and there are some minor intervals and there are also some perfect intervals as well as a lot of octaves. The first interval that I have labelled on the sheet music with pencil is in the first bar. It is the interval on the first two notes of the song. The interval is a major seventh interval and the first note is Eb and it jumps to D. This same interval is also repeated in the second bar on the first two notes and is then closely followed by a minor second interval which is on the notes D to Eb. This minor second interval is very closely followed by an octave on the notes Bb and Bb. In the octave there is a gap of twelve semitones so it’s the same as playing the open E string on the guitar whilst someone else played the twelfth fret on the E string of the guitar. In the third bar there is a minor third interval on the notes G and Bb and this is followed by a perfect fifth interval that begins on the note Bb and then drops to the note F. whilst these intervals are being played on the treble clef there is a major seventh interval being played on the bass clef. The major seventh interval starts on the note Eb and then jumps up to D. These three intervals are then repeated in the same place in the next bar which is bar four. In the fifth and sixth bars all of the intervals on the treble clefs are the same as they were in the two bars before them because the riff is just repeating itself. But there is a different thing happening on the bass clef. On the bass chef there is a sequence that has two perfect fifth intervals that are shortly followed by an octave. The perfect intervals are both on the notes C to G and then the octave is on the note G. |
Jasper and I worked out of one of the collages score books. The piece we chose was ‘Pavana lackrimae'. We each answered five questions on the pitches and intervals in this score. We both answered the questions correctly.In the lesson, Jasper and I also worked from 'Dido and Arneas'. We gave each other five questions each and answered them all correctly. The score below is the score we corked on in class. We were told not to write on the books.
I have also been working through Pass Grade 5 theory by Dorothy Dingle. It is a book that has a wide variety of exercises that you complete that teach you all that you need to know to pass the grade 5 theory exam. The photographs that I have uploaded to the left and below are some of the exercises from the pitch section. What this exercise consisted of was identifying the pitches that were written on the staves booth the bass and treble.