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Major Semitone
A semitone, also called a minor second, half step, or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically. It is defined as the interval between two adjacent notes in a 12-tone scale (or half of a whole step), visually seen on a keyboard as the distance between two keys that are adjacent to each other. For example, C is adjacent to C; the interval between them is a semitone. In a 12-note approximately equally divided scale, any interval can be defined in terms of an appropriate number of semitones (e.g. a whole tone or major second is 2 semitones wide, a major third 4 semitones, and a perfect fifth 7 semitones). In music theory, a distinction is made between a diatonic semitone, or minor second (an interval encompassing two different staff positions, e.g. from C to D) and a chromatic semitone or augmented unison (an interval between two notes at the same staff position, e.g. from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Major Seventh
In music from Western culture, a seventh is a interval (music), musical interval encompassing seven staff positions (see Interval (music)#Number, Interval number for more details), and the major seventh is one of two commonly occurring sevenths. It is qualified as ''major'' because it is the larger of the two. The major seventh spans eleven semitones, its smaller counterpart being the minor seventh, spanning ten semitones. For example, the interval from C to B is a major seventh, as the note B lies eleven semitones above C, and there are seven staff positions from C to B. Diminished seventh, Diminished and Augmented seventh, augmented sevenths span the same number of staff positions, but consist of a different number of semitones (nine and twelve). The easiest way to locate and identify the major seventh is from the octave rather than the unison, and it is suggested that one sings the octave first.Keith Wyatt, Carl Schroeder, Joe Elliott (2005). ''Ear Training for the Contempora ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meantone Temperament
Meantone temperaments are musical temperaments; that is, a variety of Musical tuning#Tuning systems, tuning systems constructed, similarly to Pythagorean tuning, as a sequence of equal fifths, both rising and descending, scaled to remain within the same octave. But rather than using perfect fifths, consisting of frequency ratios of value 3:2, these are ''tempered'' by a suitable factor that narrows them to ratios that are slightly less than 3:2, in order to bring the major or minor thirds closer to Just intonation, the just intonation ratio of 5:4 or 6:5 , respectively. Among temperaments constructed as a sequence of fifths, a regular temperament is one in which all the fifths are chosen to be of the same size. Twelve-tone equal temperament () is obtained by making all semitones the same size, with each equal to one-twelfth of an octave; i.e. with ratios . Relative to Pythagorean tuning, it narrows the perfect fifths by about 2 cents (music), cents or of a Pythagorean co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cadence Minor Second
In Western musical theory, a cadence () is the end of a phrase in which the melody or harmony creates a sense of full or partial resolution, especially in music of the 16th century onwards.Don Michael Randel (1999). ''The Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', pp. 105-106. . A harmonic cadence is a progression of two or more chords that concludes a phrase, section, or piece of music. A rhythmic cadence is a characteristic rhythmic pattern that indicates the end of a phrase. A cadence can be labeled "weak" or "strong" depending on the impression of finality it gives. While cadences are usually classified by specific chord or melodic progressions, the use of such progressions does not necessarily constitute a cadence—there must be a sense of closure, as at the end of a phrase. Harmonic rhythm plays an important part in determining where a cadence occurs. The word "cadence" sometimes slightly shifts its meaning depending on the context; for example, it can ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chord (music)
In Western music theory, a chord is a group of notes played together for their harmony, harmonic Consonance and dissonance, consonance or dissonance. The most basic type of chord is a Triad (music), triad, so called because it consists of three distinct notes: the Root (chord), root note along with Interval (music), intervals of a Third (chord), third and a Fifth (chord), fifth above the root note. Chords with more than three notes include added tone chords, extended chords and tone clusters, which are used in contemporary classical music, jazz, and other genres. Chords are the building blocks of harmony and form the harmonic foundation of a piece of music. They provide the harmonic support and coloration that accompany melodies and contribute to the overall sound and mood of a musical composition. The factor (chord), factors, or component notes, of a chord are often sounded simultaneously but can instead be sounded consecutively, as in an arpeggio. A succession of chords is ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scale (music)
In music theory, a scale is "any consecutive series of notes that form a progression between one note and its octave", typically by order of pitch or fundamental frequency. The word "scale" originates from the Latin ''scala'', which literally means "ladder". Therefore, any scale is distinguishable by its "step-pattern", or how its intervals interact with each other. Often, especially in the context of the common practice period, most or all of the melody and harmony of a musical work is built using the notes of a single scale, which can be conveniently represented on a staff with a standard key signature. Due to the principle of octave equivalence, scales are generally considered to span a single octave, with higher or lower octaves simply repeating the pattern. A musical scale represents a division of the octave space into a certain number of scale steps, a scale step being the recognizable distance (or interval) between two successive notes of the scale. However, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anhemitonic Scale
Musicology commonly classifies scales as either hemitonic or anhemitonic. Hemitonic scales contain one or more semitones, while anhemitonic scales do not contain semitones. For example, in traditional Japanese music, the anhemitonic ''yo'' scale is contrasted with the hemitonic ''in'' scale. The simplest and most commonly used scale in the world is the atritonic anhemitonic "major" pentatonic scale. The whole tone scale is also anhemitonic. A special subclass of the hemitonic scales is the cohemitonic scales. Cohemitonic scales contain two or more semitones (making them hemitonic) such that two or more of the semitones appear consecutively in scale order. For example, the Hungarian minor scale in C includes F, G, and A in that order, with a semitone between F and G, and then a semitone between G and A. Ancohemitonic scales, in contrast, either contain no semitones (and thus are anhemitonic), or contain semitones (being hemitonic) where none of the semitones appear c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semitone
A semitone, also called a minor second, half step, or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically. It is defined as the interval between two adjacent notes in a 12-tone scale (or half of a whole step), visually seen on a keyboard as the distance between two keys that are adjacent to each other. For example, C is adjacent to C; the interval between them is a semitone. In a 12-note approximately equally divided scale, any interval can be defined in terms of an appropriate number of semitones (e.g. a whole tone or major second is 2 semitones wide, a major third 4 semitones, and a perfect fifth 7 semitones). In music theory, a distinction is made between a diatonic semitone, or minor second (an interval encompassing two different staff positions, e.g. from C to D) and a chromatic semitone or augmented unison (an interval between two notes at the same staff position, e.g. f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Five-limit Tuning
Five-limit tuning, 5-limit tuning, or 5-prime-limit tuning (not to be confused with 5-odd-limit tuning), is any system for tuning a musical instrument that obtains the frequency of each note by multiplying the frequency of a given reference note (the base note) by products of integer powers of 2, 3, or 5 (prime numbers limited to 5 or lower), such as . Powers of 2 represent intervallic movements by octaves. Powers of 3 represent movements by intervals of perfect fifths (plus one octave, which can be removed by multiplying by 1/2, i.e., 2−1). Powers of 5 represent intervals of major thirds (plus two octaves, removable by multiplying by 1/4, i.e., 2−2). Thus, 5-limit tunings are constructed entirely from stacking of three basic purely-tuned intervals (octaves, thirds and fifths). Since the perception of consonance seems related to low numbers in the harmonic series, and 5-limit tuning relies on the three lowest primes, 5-limit tuning should be capable of producing very conson ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Just Intonation
In music, just intonation or pure intonation is a musical tuning, tuning system in which the space between notes' frequency, frequencies (called interval (music), intervals) is a natural number, whole number ratio, ratio. Intervals spaced in this way are said to be pure, and are called just intervals. Just intervals (and chords created by combining them) consist of tones from a single harmonic series (music), harmonic series of an implied fundamental frequency, fundamental. For example, in the diagram, if the notes G3 and C4 (labelled 3 and 4) are tuned as members of the harmonic series of the lowest C, their frequencies will be 3 and 4 times the fundamental frequency. The interval ratio between C4 and G3 is therefore 4:3, a just fourth (music), fourth. In Western musical practice, bowed instruments such as violins, violas, cellos, and double basses are tuned using pure fifths or fourths. In contrast, keyboard instruments are rarely tuned using only pure intervals—the desire fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diesis
In classical music from Western culture, a diesis ( or enharmonic diesis, plural dieses ( , or "difference"; Greek: "leak" or "escape" is either an accidental (see sharp), or a very small musical interval, usually defined as the difference between an octave (in the ratio 2:1) and three justly tuned major thirds (tuned in the ratio 5:4), equal to 128:125 or about 41.06 cents. In 12-tone equal temperament (on a piano for example) three major thirds in a row equal an octave, but three justly-tuned major thirds fall quite a bit narrow of an octave, and the diesis describes the amount by which they are short. For instance, an octave (2:1) spans from C to C′, and three justly tuned major thirds (5:4) span from C to B (namely, from C, to E, to G, to B). The difference between C-C′ (2:1) and C-B (125:64) is the diesis (128:125). Notice that this coincides with the interval between B and C′, also called a diminished second. As a comma, the above-mentioned 128:125 r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quarter-comma Meantone
Quarter-comma meantone, or -comma meantone, was the most common meantone temperament in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and was sometimes used later. In this system the perfect fifth is flattened by one quarter of a syntonic comma with respect to its just intonation used in Pythagorean tuning ( frequency ratio the result is \tfrac \times \left(\tfrac\right)^ = \sqrt \approx 1.49535, or a fifth of 696.578 cents. (The 12th power of that value is 125, whereas 7 octaves is 128, and so falls 41.059 cents short.) This fifth is then iterated to generate the diatonic scale and other notes of the temperament. The purpose is to obtain justly intoned major thirds (with a frequency ratio equal to It was described by Pietro Aron in his ''Toscanello de la Musica'' of 1523, by saying the major thirds should be tuned to be "sonorous and just, as united as possible". Later theorists Gioseffo Zarlino and Francisco de Salinas described the tuning with mathematical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
