Lesson 2 - Intervals Introduction

Interval Definition

An interval is the distance between two notes, a bass note and a high note. The bass note is also a root note 1 when it's the foundation of a chord, scale and mode.  The following are examples of intervals. Don't stress about remembering all these intervals at the moment, you'll learn how to find these very quickly in real time in future lessons.

• C# to E is a minor third interval, -3.

• C# to F is a major third interval, 3.

• C# to F# is a fourth interval, 4, other intervals are shown on the diagram.

Observe -3 to 3 is also an interval, it's a semi-tone, -3 to 4 is a tone, -3 to 5 is two tones, however two tones is a 3rd, so if you reference from the note E1, the note G#3 is the third.

The twelve notes in western music

In western music, there are only twelve notes within any octave. Your ear only needs to recognise twelve notes contained inside one octave. When the same note is played in another octave, your ear recognises it as the same note, only at a higher or lower pitch. This is because we hear relative pitch, not many people hear absolute pitch, or do they? It's unclear if absolute pitch actually exists because people who demonstrate absolute pitch may simply have a subconscious reference note in their head.

Any note may be the root 1 of a chord, scale or mode, 1 is not an interval as you need two notes, however it's sometimes referred to as an interval if your describing the high 1, the same note an octave higher. The diagrams below show the all the intervals referenced from the root note C and the root note F. Observe the interval number when starting on the note C, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7.  The numbers -2, -3, -5, -7are the flat notes, the number +5 is a sharp note. The Akousunesis method only describes intervals this way for a very specific reason, to aid our performance playing. In the key of F, observe how the -5 is now a white note and the 4 is a black note, this is because all interval have fixed interval distances measured in semi-tones from the root note 1. A -5 interval is always six semi-tones, a 4 interval is always five semi-tones.

Tones, Semi-Tone and Octaves

The first three intervals you'll need to remember are, octaves, tones and semi-tone. They're easy to visualise on the piano, let's first look at a few tones and semi-tones on the piano keyboard.

A semi-tone is simply the next note up from any reference note 1. A semi-tone also has the interval number -2. (NOTE: The minus sign means to flatten, it's not a mathematical operation). You may also move a semi-tone down from any reference note, however the interval will be a major seventh because the reference note is now above the interval note, this will make more sense as your knowledge increases and you learn about inversions. 

A tone is two semi-tones is distance, always look for a note in the middle, there will always be one. In order to play music in real time, you need to identify tones quickly, look for similar patterns and pay particular attention to the semi-tone white notes E, F and B,C. Tones which start and end on white notes are, C, D, F, G and A, tones which start and end on black notes are Db, Gb and Ab. Tones Eb, E, Bb, B are alternate colour tones, meaning Eb to F and Bb to C start on a black note and end on a white note. E to F# and B to C# start on a white note and end on a black note.

Not all tones and semi-tone are shown in the diagram below, there are twelve semi-tones and twelve tones on the piano keyboard.

Octaves are easy to locate on the piano, they're simply the same name.  There are twelve octaves in western music, two of which are shown below, C and high C, E and high E. Any two of the same notes on a piano is considered an octave, even if they are five octaves apart, they all have the same sound, only at different pitches.

Intervals may cross octaves, but in the Akousunesis method, they will always be considered as the same interval. Only in chord naming will intervals 9, 11 and 13 be describe with full understand that a 9 is just a high 2, an 11 is just a high 4 and a 13 is just high 6. The high prefix indicated they are played in the second octave range. 

Harmonic and Melodic interval series

The way intervals are described and numbered is designed around the western major scale. All the white notes, starting from C to high C is the western major scale having the following harmonic interval series of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. The notes which come out of key are the minus and plus intervals, flats or sharps of the intervals which are in key, the -2, -3, -5, -7 and +5. All interval in a harmonic interval series are reference from the root note 1.

A melodic interval series is a series of intervals all reference from the previous note of the series. The western major scale can be represented this way. You use the melodic interval series of the western major scale to discover all the key signatures, then you need to visually remember all the notes and your ear will develop to hear and recognise the sound. 

Visualising a melodic interval series is not useful for real time playing as there is no fixed reference information with the melodic movement.  However, our ear is excellent at hearing melodic movement and you'll discover your fingers will subconsciously move to the melodic movement, however it's difficult to remember using anything other than muscle memory. 

A song melody is also a melodic interval series moving from note to note. Our brain is very good at hearing this interval movement, this is why we can recognise songs easily. However, because sheet music is visual melodic movement, it doesn't blend well with the way we hear music. The notes are referenced to the staff, which is fine, however there absolute representations and note relative which doesn't blend well with the way we hear music. Even people with absolute pitch can have trouble transposing music because their fingers are trained to find the exact notes rather than moving relative with the pitch movement. When training your right hand, you fingers will hit the correct note if you train them to move relative to the pitch, so the Akousunesis method is design with this goal in mind.

To train our ears to hear the melodic movement of melodies, we're going to use a memory association, the harmonic interval series.  The harmonic interval series is melodic movement but instead of trying to visually and mentally remember as series of interval steps ( which become impossible ), it's easier to remember intervals in reference to bass notes, usually roots of a chord sequence.

The example shows harmonic melody movement in reference to chords. Here the melodic interval movement now becomes something you here while the harmonic interval movement becomes something you see and both blend well together.  There is also no timing information because you training your ear to hear timing an not see timing. The is also no note direction information, you don't know if the melody is rising to a high interval or falling to a low interval, again, your ear is excellent as recognising this type of movement.  The concept is to reduce visual crutch's allowing your ears to do the work, it's the same idea why blind people develop better hearing.

C         Em    Dm

3 3 5 1  -3    -7 5 -3 1   

The melodic interval series of any melody will become so natural to hear, you’ll no longer need to place any effort in trying to remember melodies, your fingers will find the notes. You’ll no longer be dependant on notation.

Introduction to the Western Major Scale

The keyboard is designed around the western major scale, playing all the white notes for C to high C.

The melodic interval series is:

Root note, tone, tone, semi-tone, tone, tone, tone, semi-tone

Visualise the semi-tone space between the note E and F, and B and C, these will become important landmarks in your visualisation journey.  The interval E-F and B-C are the semi-tones of the C major scale and very easy to visualise. 

The C major scale will become our reference point when discovering modes and dealing with more complicated topics. When trying to understand theory, the C major scale is a great starting point because the scale is easy to visualise. Once you understand the theory, then transposition becomes much easier to apply. 

The western major scale is the most important scale in western music as it becomes your theoretical reference for all other scale in music. Any scale in western music can be described as a simple alteration to a known western scale mode. This is an important concept in the Akousunesis School of Music, and will be used and demonstrated and used often in our compositions, exercises and improvisations.

Interval distances measure in tones

Knowing a tone is two semi-tones in distance, we can show all the intervals in a table. There are six tones within an octave and twelve semi-tones. The diminished fifth is the half way point being three tones, six semi-tones.

Most of these interval distance you'll won't need to remember because you'll learn how to locate them quickly in real time. The two interval distance you will need to remember and visually located quickly will be the minor and major thirds.