The Score Magazine October 2019 | Page 26

NEHITA ABRAHAM How Perfect are The Perfect Intervals? If you have been to any music class, you’re bound to learn about intervals in the music language. Soon enough you will hear the term: “Perfect Intervals”. So, if you’ve ever wondered what’s so perfect about them? Just keep reading. No glitch with the right pitch! What does the term “pitch” mean? A pitch of a certain note tells us how high or low the note sounds. What does the term “interval” mean? An interval is the distance between any two pitches or any two notes. While scientists often describe the difference in pitch between two notes, as the difference between their frequency, musicians on the other hand like to see the difference between two notes as intervals. We can simply calculate how many semitones have moved up or down and it’s easy! For example, you can say "B natural is a half step below C natural", or "E flat is a step and a half above C natural". But when we talk about larger intervals in the major/minor system, there is a more convenient and descriptive way to name them. This concept is so important that it is almost impossible to talk about scales, chords, harmonic progression, cadence, or dissonance without referring to intervals. Perfect Pitch or Pitch Perfect? Unisons, octaves, fourths(4th), and fifths(5th) are called perfect intervals. A perfect interval is an interval that is not major, minor, augmented or diminished. It always remains perfect. Sure, they can be augmented or diminished if we move a note up or down. A perfect interval becomes augmented when G-C (perfect 4th) is changed from G-C# (an augmented 4th). But without changing the note, a perfect interval always remains perfect. Let’s test this! Let’s turn things upside down! (literally) 24 The Score Magazine highonscore.com Let’s say we want to turn an interval upside down, or inverted. When you do that with C-E ( a major third) the inversion gives us E-C ( a minor 6th). Woah! A major can become a minor when we shift the position? Yes, that’s why it’s important to remember that intervals are based on an absolute distance in between semitones and not if they are in a minor or major scale. Minor intervals are not minor because they are found in the minor scale and the same goes for the major. Majors become minors, majors become minors, augmented becomes diminished, The exceptions to this inversion rule are the octaves, 4th and 5th. C- F is a perfect 4th F-C is a perfect 5th. The interval stays at perfect, that hasn't changed. Even still, why do we innately feel that certain intervals are consonant( sounds that sound good together)? And ever go so far as to call them “perfect” ? In simple words, if we examine the acoustics or sound waves( Frequency and Wavelength), the notes of the perfect interval are very closely related. Because they are so closely related, they sound particularly good together, a fact that has been noticed since at least the times of classical Greece, and probably even longer. (Both the octave and perfect fifth have prominent positions in most of the world's musical traditions.) This makes them sound really particularly good together. One person to identify this was Pythagoras (Yes, the same guy whose theories annoy you during exams), and possibly many other Greeks at the time noticed this too. We can tell that they liked it, by the fact that in most musical traditions, the octave and perfect 5th have a prominent position. So, to go so far as to call these intervals “perfect”? Guess it sounds and calculates perfectly!