I told my music teacher that I listened to more of Andrew Byrd’s stuff and found that it tends to be really hit or miss for me. He agrees and says that in his opinion, Andrew Byrd’s earlier stuff tends to be more consistently good.
We’re spending time today syncing up on what terms mean, like intervals and roman numeral analysis.
| half steps | notation | description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | m2 | minor second, also called half step (or H) |
| 2 | M2 | major second, also called whole step (or W) |
| 3 | m3 | minor third |
| 4 | M3 | major third |
| 5 | P4 | perfect fourth |
| 6 | — | tritone, also called sharp 4 or flat 5 |
| 7 | P5 | perfect fifth |
| 8 | m6 | minor sixth |
| 9 | M6 | major sixth |
| 10 | m7 | minor seventh |
| 11 | M7 | major seventh |
| 12 | P8 | perfect eighth |
| 13 | m9 | minor ninth |
| 14 | M9 | major ninth |
| 15 | m10 | minor tenth |
| 16 | M10 | major tenth |
| 17 | P4 | perfect fourth plus an octave |
| 18 | — | sharp 11 |
| 19 | P5 | perfect fifth plus an octave |
| 20 | m6 | minor 6th plus an octave |
As you can see, the cycle repeats after the perfect fifth plus an octave.
A perfect interval is one which does not have a minor or major variant. Chords with a perfect fourth are also called suspensions because they build chords that don’t sound major or minor. A perfect fifth is considered perfect because the triad is made up of a minor third and a major third, so it’s not clear if it has a major or minor property.
For example:
- C minor triad starts with a m3 with a M3 ontop, or a m3 and a P5
- C major triad starts with a M3 with a m3 ontop, or a M3 and a P5
Between the perfect fourth and perfect fifth, we have what is called a tritone because it is exactly six half-steps above and below the root note.
I asked why some keys on the keyboard don’t have a sharp or flat between then. He said that this was because of the property of frequencies in physics and more specifically the harmonic series. We’ll get more into it another time, but essentially the harmonic series has to do with what other frequencies resonance with a specific frequency.
We also talked about how you would describe intervals going down instead of going up. He said that you always describe intervals relative to each other and that the root note doesn’t matter since intervals are always relative.
For example, if your root note is C, you could call the interval from C to the B note below it a minor second going down, or a B minor second, or simply from C to B below or B to the C above it.
It doesn’t sound like there is a strict way of speaking about the direction of an interval.
We also talked about how music theory is a tool, not a set of restrictions. He mentioned that we will learn more about jazz later because it helps you build “excuses” for doing something that might not be traditionally accepted in western music theory.
We don’t have enough time to talk about roman numerals, so we’ll talk about it next time.
Assignment:
- What is a P4 above E?
- What is a m6 above F?
- What is a M2 below G?
- What is a M7 above D?
- What is the interval between C and the E above it?
- What is the interval between A and the D above it?