Musical Intervals

A musical interval is the ratio or space between two musical notes.

Pythagorous of Samos (c.582 - c.507 B.C.) is credited with the idea of tuning an instrument up and down by fifths to create a complete musical scale that sounded harmonious. By tuning each successive note in turn by the ratio of a fifth in the pattern of the Circle of Fifths, Pythagoras realized that eventually he returned to almost an exact higher octave of the note he started with. There is, however, a slight error between the octave harmonic relationships and the tuning by fifths that occurs when you tune using this method. The error is today still called the Pythagorean comma and represents a ratio of about 74/73.

You can click on these links to learn a lot more about the Circle of Fifths or the Pythagoran comma.

If you would like hear these sound ratios at length, BioWaves has produced several meditation CD's that use some of the above intervals. The Perfect Fifth is comfortable to listen to, the Tri-Tone Drone is for balancing and increasing conciousness, while the experimental Phi-Tone Drone uses the Golden Mean Ratio.

These note relationships, or intervals, are used in creating a musical scale. But the error from the Pythagorian Comma means that a scale cannot be truly harmonic.

Interval	Description
Unison	Very comfortable interval. It sometimes seems to represent sameness since only the tone of the music is different.
Minor 2nd	Definitely dissonant. It creates a tense and uneasy feeling that is expectant, anticipatory, busy and mysterious.
Major 2nd	Somewhat dissonant souding.
Minor 3rd or Augmented 2nd
Major 3rd	This is found frequently in church music. It is sweet, comfortable, square and resolved, without a lot of character.
Minor 4th or Augmented 3rd
Perfect 4th	This interval is airy, comfortable and evokes feelings of serenity, clairity, openness and light. It is not allowed in some configurations because it would be considered a pagan progression. It is also not allowed by the Roman Catholic Church. Dane Rugier thinks that 4th symbolizes contraction and magatism. In Indian traditions it represents a return to the mother.
Tri-Tone or Minor 5th or Augmented 4th In Sound Therapy we call this the "Inverse" or "Complimentary" Frequency	Considered VERY POWERFUL. This note wants to, and often does, resolve to the 5th in music. "It alone, I think, is one of the most powerful intervals that we have," says Kay Gardner. According to standard music theory, this interval is not to be used in music. In fact, it is called: Deabolics en Musica. The Devil in Music. This interval is used frequently in horror films and is used in Leanord Bernstein's, "Maria" from "The West Side Story." This interval appears in scales that have been invented by women.
Major 5th	This interval is comfortable. It is the first overtone, evoking feelings of home, sturdiness and completeness. Dane Rugier says in his book, The Magic of Tone and the Art of Music, that it has a spiritual function and the power to manifest potential, evoking electricity and the creative mind.
Minor 6th or Augmented 5th	This sound has poinient. emotional, loving or love lost feeling. Chopin's music is filled with this interval in parallel motion.
Major 6th
Augmented 6th or Minor 7th	This is a bit dissonant.
Major 7th	This interval is very dissonant. It wants to resolve to the octave.
Octave	This harmonic interval is very comfortable. There is a sameness about the sounds, as it is in complete harmony with the fundamental sound.