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  • So, last week, we talked about intervals, and

  • we said that this was the space between notes.

  • But really, to fully discover an interval, we need two pieces of information.

  • We, firstly, need the number of the interval, but we also need the quality.

  • So last week we looked at the distance between C and E.

  • [MUSIC]

  • And we worked out that this was a third.

  • C to D to E.

  • One, two, three.

  • But that's only half the picture.

  • We say it's a third, but we need to know the quality.

  • We need to know what type of third is it?

  • Mickey, what interval is this?

  • >> One, two, three.

  • That would be a third Zach.

  • >> Okay. And this one?

  • >> One, two, three, that's also a third Zach.

  • >> Okay. So these

  • are two different intervals that we're describing as thirds.

  • And this is what we mean by quality.

  • >> Take a look at this example.

  • We're going to use our major scale again as the reference point.

  • We're going to be figuring out and

  • naming all our intervals with reference to the major scale.

  • And this will give you a set of interval descriptions that match

  • music theory convention.

  • So we're working from left to right.

  • If we've got two notes that are exactly the same pitch,

  • we say that they are in perfect unison.

  • The distance between the first and second, the first and

  • third, the first and sixth, and the first and the seventh.

  • Are all described as major second, third,

  • sixth and seventh respectively.

  • The distance between the first and fourth, the first and fifth, and the first and

  • the eighth, are called perfect fourths, and fifths and octaves, respectively.

  • So as we can see, in each case,

  • we've got a description of the quality of the interval.

  • And in this case, it was either major or perfect, and we also have the number,

  • one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, or eight.

  • But as we've also said, this is all based on the major scale.

  • So what happens if we want to work it into those that don't

  • belong to the major scale?

  • Well, firstly, we need to be aware that there are other qualities of intervals.

  • We've already talked about major and perfect.

  • We also have minor intervals, augmented intervals and diminished intervals.

  • >> So, let's use an example to take this forward.

  • On your screen, you've got a treble clef.

  • And a D up to a C.

  • The lower note is D.

  • The upper note is C.

  • So, let's count up from D: D,

  • E, F, G, A, B, C.

  • One, two, three, four, Five, six, seven.

  • Seven steps.

  • So we know we've got some sort of a seventh.

  • >> Okay. So

  • that's only have of what we need to talk about.

  • We've got the number now.

  • We know it's a seventh.

  • Now we need to think about the quality.

  • Well, a really good way to do this is to take the lowest note, and

  • imagine that you are in the major key.

  • Imagine that's the tonic of the major key.

  • So in this case we're going to imagine we're in the case of D Major,

  • because the lowest note is a D.

  • Okay.

  • So we know that in the key of D Major we've got an F# and a C#.

  • Therefore, the 7th degree of D Major would be C#.

  • This would be a major 7th.

  • We've already talked about this.

  • Actually, this is a C-natural,

  • which is a semitone lower than the C-sharp that we would expect in this major key.

  • When a major interval is made smaller,

  • or lowered, we say that this is a minor interval.

  • >> So we've now seen examples of major intervals,

  • perfect intervals and now we've had a minor 7th as well.

  • But we've also mentioned such things as augmented intervals and

  • diminished intervals.

  • So how would we get to 20 of those?

  • >> Well, we've seen that the unison, the fourth, and the fifth, and

  • the octave are described by the words perfect.

  • And this is the cause of the constancy between different types of scales.

  • So they are called perfect.

  • So if we have a perfect interval,

  • and we raise it, we make that interval bigger, we call that augmented.

  • And if we make that interval smaller, we call it diminished.

  • >> So from a perfect interval, is you step up one semitone,

  • you've made that interval augmented.

  • From a perfect interval that you make smaller by one semitone,

  • you've made that interval diminished.

  • Now, music theory convention gives us even more options if what we're starting

  • with is a major interval.

  • So if you remember, the second, the third, the sixth, and

  • the seventh intervals, were all originally started from our reference point.

  • As Major.

  • Major 2nd, Major 3rd, Major 6th, Major 7th.

  • For any of those, if you were to add one semitone to the interval,

  • so make the top note higher, sharpen it by one semitone.

  • You would immediately get to an augmented Interval.

  • So for major you'd step up one semi tone to augment it.

  • From that same major, if you were to step down one semitone, so

  • you were to flatten the top note by one semitone.

  • You would get to minor, as we'd already seen.

  • Now, Zach, what would happen if you were to take that minor interval and

  • flatten it by one semitone again?

  • >> Well, you're making it smaller, so

  • again, we can say that that interval is being diminished.

  • [BLANK_AUDIO)

So, last week, we talked about intervals, and

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