The most asked question about musical intervals
Hi Visitor,
Question I got recently: "Is there a good reason why we call some musical intervals ‘perfect’, while some are called major or minor?"
For instance:
a 3rd could be major or minor...
...but a 5th can not be major or minor. You can have a perfect 5th, and if you really insist, you can also have a diminished or augmented 5th - but no major or minor 5th for you, no sirree! (*)
That looks puzzling, doesn't it? I know it confused me to no end!
There is, in fact, a reason for this, and as with most things in life, it’s probably easier to just not question it. Assume there’s a good reason, blindly follow authority, live your life in a state of blissful ignorance.
Nah, just kidding :-)
Of course you don’t want to do this. If you are subscribed to this newsletter, you have a curious mind and want to seek out new knowledge wherever you can find it, so you can learn and grow as a person, and become a better version of yourself. Like some kind of nerd.
In that case, from one nerd to another, I’ll first give you the obvious, reasonable, and wrong explanation:
The name perfect, as opposed to major or minor, is used when an interval remains the same in both major and minor scales.
Intervals that change between these scales are given the terms major and minor.
Ah, wouldn't it be great if life was so simple?
But you may already have spotted the problem: "Then why don’t we call 2nds perfect since they stay the same between major and minor?"
Great question!
For that, allow me to direct your attention to the video below, where I’ll explain the correct difference between perfect intervals and major/minor intervals.
Watch the video here, and you'll see that everything makes "perfect" sense (pun intended):
https://musictheoryforguitar.com/major-minor-perfect-intervals.html
(*) As you'll see in the video, this is because all the major and minor 5ths were handed out in the 18th Century, and we are left just with the perfect ones. True story!
Enjoy!
Tommaso Zillio
Music Theory Education Expert
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