Intervals or The Key to Harmonic Understanding
(14 May 02)
Major and Minor Intervals
Second, Third, Sixth and Seventh can be Major or Minor
To repeat myself, the second family of intervals is divided into two possibilities: Major or Minor. The difference is in a half step. A Minor Interval is always a half step below the Major Interval. So to find a Minor Interval we have to know the Major one. We again take our handy C Major scale for example. As the name tells you in a Major scale everything is Major if it is not Perfect! Still with me? Confused? Please take the time and read this paragraph again.
First we repeat our Perfect Intervals.
Now we apply the rule from above and name the other Intervals.
In order to find the Minor Intervals we lower the Major Intervals by a half step, ie we are adding a flat to the note.
example: c to d is a Major Second, c to db is a Minor Second
So if we change all Major Intervals to Minor we get
Again. It is very important for you to understand that Minor Intervals are an alteration of Major Intervals. That does not mean they are less important or less used. It is just very helpful to think about them in this way to avoid naming the notes wrongly.
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