Tones, half-tones and intervals

Now that you know that there are not seven but twelve musical notes, you need to learn what tones and half-tones are in music, and how you can use them.

Tones and Half-tones

A half-tone is the distance between a note and the next one in the chromatic scale. There is a half-tone between mi and fa, and another between la and flat la, as well. When the distance grows to two adjacent half-tones, the difference is called a tone, like when we speak about the distance beween a re and a mi.

In music, the sounds in between two notes are called sharp or flat; sharp if the pitch is going up, and flat if the pitch is going down. To see it more clearly let me rewrite the chromatic scale once again, but this time in both ways.

C – C# – D – D# - E – F – F# – G – G# – A – A# – B – C
C – B – Bb – A – Ab – G – Gb – F – E – Eb – D – Db – C

As you can see, when going up, we use sharps, and when going down we use flats. Even when sharps and flats are in strict theory not exactly the same sounds, they are treated as such. Still, if you wish to check a more theoretical explanation, see why are there sharp and flat musical notes?

Intervals

This difference between tones and half-tones makes every distance between two notes theoretically definable. Their definitions are called intervals and they are part of the musical theory.

There are many intervals in the theory of music and a professional should be able not only to understand them, but to identify them just by listening to them too. Practice makes perfect the saying says.

Intervals are:

+ prime, if the distance between two notes is less than one tone.
+ second, if the distance between two notes is two tones.
+ third, if the distance between two notes is three tones.
+ fourth, if the distance between two notes is four tones.
+ fifth, if the distance between two notes is five tones.
+ sixth, if the distance between two notes is six tones.
+ seventh, if the distance between two notes is seven tones.
+ eighth or octave, if the distance between two notes is a scale.

Some of them have specific names, such as:

+ A major second is composed by two notes with a distance of two half-tones.
+ A major third is composed by two notes with a distance of four half-tones.
+ A perfect fourth is composed by two notes with a distance of five half-tones.
+ A perfect fifth is composed by two notes with a distance of seven half-tones.
+ A major sixth is composed by two notes with a distance of nine half-tones.
+ A major seventh is composed by two notes with a distance of eleven half-tones.
+ An octave or major eighth is composed by two notes with a distance of twelve half-tones.

And all of them accept three variants, which are:

+ A diminished interval, which is half-tone less than a perfect or major interval. That is to say, a diminish fourth has four half-tones and a diminished fifth has six half-tones.
+ An augmented interval, conversely, has a half-tone more than a perfect interval. That is to say, an augmented fourth has six half-tones and an augmented fifth has eight half-tones.
+ When you subtract a half-tone from a major, it becomes a minor.

Remember these, as they will be very important when learning about chords.


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