What is an Interval in Music?

So what does interval mean in music? In western music, everything you’ve ever listened to, or played, all the chords, scales, and melodies you know are made up of intervals.

Musical intervals are the building blocks of harmony, and therefore, one of the most important pieces of theory for a musician to know.

General definitions of interval in music

At its very core, an interval is the distance between two musical notes. There are many different ways to categorize intervals. Let’s go through some of the key concepts and terminology within intervals music theory.

Semitone and Tone

Semitones and tones - often referred to as half-steps and whole-steps, are the 2 most common intervals in music.

What is a semitone?

A semitone (or half step) is the shortest distance between two notes. In western music, we only have 12 notes, and the semitone is the distance between each of them. This is the distance between each key on a piano or each fret on a guitar.

What is a tone?

A tone (or whole step) is double the size of a semitone. This would be moving up or down two frets on a guitar, or two keys on a piano (diagram further on in the post).

Semitones and tones are a universal way of expressing a sequence of musical intervals.

For example, when building a major scale we can follow the formula: Tone – Tone – Semitone – Tone – Tone – Tone – Semitone, or for short:

[T – T – S – T – T – T – S]

Whichever note you start on, following this pattern will always result in a major scale. In fact, all musical scales can be memorized using this technique, you just need to know the pattern of intervals.

One more example:

[T – S – T – T – S – T – T] this is the formula for the natural minor scale.

Types of intervals in music

There are a number of ways to analzye intervals. Understanding common terminology is helpful for communicating with other musicians and studying the music itself.

Let’s look at some useful terms for different types of intervals.

Melodic and Harmonic Intervals

What is the distance between two pitches called? As you may guess, when two notes are played together or in harmony, it’s called a harmonic interval. But what is it called when they’re played in a sequence, like in the melody of your favorite song? Logically enough - a melodic interval! Now we understand there are two ways to think about musical intervals then… Melodic and Harmonic! And they are both equally important.

Enharmonic intervals

We use the term enharmonic when a note, interval, or chord has more than one name, such as the tritone (we’ll see it further on in the post) which can be referred to as either a Diminished 5th or an Augmented 4th.

It’s the same notes, we just give it a different name depending on the context.

Consonant and Dissonant

We’re now moving into a more intuitive type of musical perception, one where you need to really use your ear! The difference between consonant and dissonant interval is something we can feel. Even people without musical training experience the tension of dissonance, and the sense of resolution in consonance.

Perfect intervals are considered the most consonant - they feel more stable in comparison to imperfect intervals such as the 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 7th. It’s important to understand that this is all true when heard in isolation, but their sensation can change a lot depending on the musical context.

This is especially useful to know if you are practicing ear training: The same interval can sound extremely different depending on the harmonic context it’s included in, so it’s not a good idea to practice recognizing intervals in isolation - like it’s done with interval-based exercises.

On the other side of the tension spectrum, we have an interval like the minor 2nd - two notes right next to each other. Played simultaneously, these notes will sound extremely unharmonious or dissonant.

Diatonic and Chromatic

The chromatic scale spans the entire range of available notes in western music (also known as twelve-tone equal temperament), but 99.9% of the music we play and hear is “diatonic” because it’s centered around a musical key, such as “C major” for example..

What are the qualities of intervals?

Within an octave, there are twelve unique intervals, below is a music interval chart based on the chromatic scale.

The middle row gives the shortened interval names, and the bottom row shows the major scale formula.

Although they are all quite different from one another, certain qualities allow us to group these intervals into categories. Here is a breakdown of each interval quality.

Perfect Intervals (P)

They are neither major nor minor and are the most consonant types of intervals in music.

• P1 - Unison, two notes of the same pitch
• P4 - Perfect 4th
• P5 - Perfect 5th
• P8 - Octave, often abbreviated to (8ve)

Minor Intervals (m) / (min) / (−)

Note: You may hear people referring to minor intervals as ‘flat’ (b), for example, a ‘minor 6’ could be referred to as a ‘flat 6’ (b6) - flat simply means lowered by a semitone.

• m2 - Minor 2nd
• m3 - Minor 3rd
• m6 - Minor 6th
• m7 - Minor 7th

Major Intervals (M) / (maj) / (Δ)

• M2 - Major 2nd
• M3 - Major 3rd
• M6 - Major 6th
• M7 - Major 7th

Augmented Intervals (A) / (+)

Augmented is the name we use when raising a perfect interval by one semitone - the perfect 4th sharpened by a semitone becomes the Augmented 4th.

• +1 - Augmented 1st
• +4 - Augmented 4th / Tritone
• +5 - Augmented 5th
• +8 - Augmented 8ve

Diminished Intervals (d) / (o)

We use diminished when lowering perfect intervals by a semitone - the perfect 4th flattened by a semitone becomes the diminished 4th.

• o1 - Diminished 1st
• o4 - Diminished 4th
• o5 - Diminished 5th / Tritone
• o8 - Diminished 8ve

Below are some interval diagrams for guitar and piano to help visualize the ideas so far.

Simple and Compound Intervals

Everything we’ve discussed so far has been contained within one octave - these are known as simple intervals - simple, right? In the diagram* below, we have all the simple intervals within a major scale, in this case, C major, but the same rules apply to any major scale.

But what is it called when an interval is bigger than one octave? - A compound interval!

Compound intervals are often called extensions when building chords because they extend beyond the standard chord formula of [1st 3rd 5th 7th].

These compound intervals are made of the same notes as simple intervals, the difference being that they are an octave higher.

For example, 2nd and a 9th from the note C, are the same note (D) just an octave apart.

For now, let’s focus on the three most common extensions, these follow a clear pattern that should be self-evident [1st 3rd 5th 7th / 9th 11th 13th]

• 9th - equivalent to a 2nd and can be played over both minor and major
• 11th - equivalent to a 4th, this extension will clash with any major 3rds being played
• 13th - equivalent to a 6th this interval will work over major and minor keys

What role do intervals play in ear training?

It should be clear that the ability to easily deconstruct what you’re hearing, or spontaneously play the notes you want, is the holy grail for all musicians.

Unfortunately for many people, ear training can be a long and unrewarding process. This is due to a fundamental flaw with the methods most people use when training their ears.

See if this sounds familiar:

Listening to two isolated notes and then guessing the interval. Perhaps using a familiar song melody as a reference (tritone = The Simpsons, anyone?).

You may get good at this exercise, but it doesn’t transfer over to real-world musicality.

Why is the interval ear training method so ineffective?

Something all musicians have asked themselves after practicing interval ear training - Why can’t I recognize intervals when listening to music?! The answer is hidden in the question itself. You haven’t learned how to recognize intervals in music, or more specifically in a musical context.

Let’s make a practical example. Within any major key, there are multiple major 3rd intervals.

When hearing these intervals in the context of the key or ‘tonality’, each of them will sound totally different from one another! The diagram below shows ascending 3rd intervals in the C major scale.

Play each of these M3 intervals over a C bass note, do they have the same tension/rest sensation to you? Absolutely not!

This video taken from one of our workshops gives a great demonstration of how the same interval can sound massively different depending on context. Moreover, we explain the 5 big issues of why the interval-based approach is totally ineffective.

A better way of internalizing these sounds is by becoming familiar with qualities such as consonance and dissonance, feeling tension, and learning how certain sounds pull towards the key center, while others are more stable. This is how intuitive, fast, and reliable relative pitch skills are developed and is the key to becoming more musical.

Conclusion

Whether you’re playing in a garage band, or composing classical music, ear training is going to reap huge rewards, but only if it’s done right.

If you want to become a better musician by improving your ear training practice, and overall relative pitch skills, you should seriously consider the Use Your Ear courses.

Einstein's definition of insanity is: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

So if you want better results from your ear training practice, it’s time to try something different!

Get started with our free workshop, where you can gain some great insight into our unique approach with no strings attached.

• Grounded in science - various scientific studies back the core principles of this method and why it’s extremely effective.

• Fantastic feedback from our students - hear about their big improvements to musicality and understanding of musical pitch.

• 3 hours of valuable information - by the end, you will have understood your current skill level and learned new very effective ear training exercises that you can start practicing right away.

• You’ll learn what NOT to do - get rid of your bad practice habits, and discard the outdated ear training routines you’ve been using.

We’re so confident that you’ll love the techniques in our workshop that we’re happy to introduce you to them at no cost, so you’ve got nothing to lose!

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Until then take a look at our Youtube channel for more useful lessons and tips!