THE EASY WAY TO WORK OUT SIMPLE MUSICAL INTERVALS

A Guide To Music Intervals: The Gaps Between The Notes

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Last updated 23-08-2022

Description

This text is meant to take the student from the basics of reading and writing pitches and rhythms through twelve–tone technique and minimalism over the course of four semesters

What You’ll Learn

MUSICAL INTERVALS

The difference in pitch between two notes is called the interval. You will mainly come across this as musicians in 2 ways:

1. Harmony – when two or more notes are played at the same time. The difference in pitch between them is called the interval

2. Melody – when one note is played after the other. Again, the difference in pitch between them is called the interval.

THE EASY WAY TO WORK OUT SIMPLE MUSICAL INTERVALS

People think that you have to be really good at music theory to have any hope of working out intervals – thankfully, this is not true. You can easily work out the basic musical interval between 2 notes by simply knowing your alphabet from A to G!

Have a look at this example below:

Requirements

Students must know how to read music on the treble clef before taking this course, in particular pitches.
In a perfect world, students should have access to a keyboard, piano, or keyboard app on their computer or phone. It is possible to use another instrument for reference, but a keyboard (even a phone app keyboard) is preferable because all the notes on a keyboard are laid out sequentially.
Students should know that "enharmonic" refers to notes, keys , or scales that sound the same but are written different. For instance, C# and Db notes sound the same. They are referred to by different names based on key.
Students should know that a "half step" is the distance between one note and the very next adjacent note. The distance between an "A" and an "A#" is one half step. A "whole step" is equal to two half steps.