An interval is the distance between two notes. It doesn't matter if the notes are played at the same time or one after another, the interval name remains the same. The name of an interval is made up of two parts. The first merely counts the number of letter names between the two notes including the names of the two notes themselves. For example, the distance between C and up to G is a 5th (i.e. C,D,E,F,G--five letter names).
The 5th contains a total of 5 letter names. In this example: C,D,E,F,G
Notice that although the 5th only has 5 letter names, the "Perfect" 5th includes 8 piano keys. |
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The second part of an interval's name is more of a fine-tuning of the name and describes its quality. For example, the 5th described above can actually have three forms: augmented, perfect and diminished, listed here from largest to smallest. Even though the letter names never exceed 5 the number of keys between the letter names can vary. Shown here is a Perfect 5th which encompasses 8 piano keys. Therefore, an augmented 5th (which is 1/2 step bigger than a perfect 5th) would include 9 keys while a diminished 5th (1/2 step smaller than a perfect 5th) includes only 7. Be sure to count both the beginning and ending keys that name the interval. |
