Intervals

All Students preparing for Grade exams are recommended to use the Hofnotes on-line training pages to practise for the aural tests.

At higher grades you must be able to discuss with the examiner musical features such as texture, form, style, and period of a piece of music. My own web pages to help with these parts of the test at Grade 5+ and at GCSE are available here!

An interval is the distance between two pitches, the difference between two frequencies.

Play a C major scale, but returning in between each note of the scale to the keynote, C. Your ear will easily detect a difference between the 8 different intervals. They could be written down like this:

Now play a chromatic scale, again returning in between each note of the scale to the keynote, C. Your ear will now detect a difference between 12 different intervals. Unfortunately, if we resorted to enharmonic notes and allowed a liberal sprinkling of accidentals these could be recorded in at least 25 different ways!

To identify an interval when it is written down in a theory exam, ensure that you first know the interval number. This is simply done by counting the notes, including the lower note as no. 1:

To get this part of the answer, you can and should ignore sharps and flats in the key signature or as accidentals!

Click here to download a simple worksheet on intervals

Now count the number of semitones in the interval, using either the virtual piano keyboard, or this picture of the chromatic scale:

Now work through the table below. I am sorry it is such a mechanical process - but it is fail safe!

I've decided it's a:	I've counted the semitones and there are:	Therefore it's a:
1st	0	unison
1st	1	augmented 1st
2nd	1	minor 2nd
	2	major 2nd
	3	augmented 2nd
3rd	2	diminished 3rd
	3	minor third
	4	major 3rd
	5	augmented 3rd
4th	4	diminished 4th
	5	perfect 4th
	6	augmented 4th
5th	6	diminished 5th
	7	perfect fifth
	8	augmented 5th
	7	diminished 6th
6th	8	minor 6th
	9	major 6th
	10	augmented 6th
7th	9	diminished 7th
	10	minor 7th
	11	major 7th
	12	augmented 7th
8th/ octave	11	diminished octave
	12	perfect octave
	13	augmented octave

An interval is the distance between two pitches, the difference between two frequencies.

Play a C major scale, but returning in between each note of the scale to the keynote, C. Your ear will easily detect a difference between the 8 different intervals. They could be written down like this:

To identify an interval when it is written down in a theory exam, ensure that you first know the interval number. This is simply done by counting the notes, including the lower note as no. 1:

To get this part of the answer, you can and should ignore sharps and flats in the key signature or as accidentals!

Click here to download a simple worksheet on intervals

I've decided it's a:

I've counted the semitones and there are:

Therefore it's a:

1st

0

unison

1

augmented 1st

2nd

1

minor 2nd

2

major 2nd

3

augmented 2nd

3rd

2

diminished 3rd

3

minor third

4

major 3rd

5

augmented 3rd

4th

4

diminished 4th

5

perfect 4th

6

augmented 4th

5th

6

diminished 5th

7

perfect fifth

8

augmented 5th

7

diminished 6th

6th

8

minor 6th

9

major 6th

10

augmented 6th

7th

9

diminished 7th

10

minor 7th

11

major 7th

12

augmented 7th

8th/ octave

11

diminished octave

12

perfect octave

13

augmented octave