classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" al ...

, a third is a

musical interval In music theory, an interval is a difference in pitch between two sounds. An interval may be described as horizontal, linear, or melodic if it refers to successively sounding tones, such as two adjacent pitches in a melody, and vertical or ha ...

encompassing three staff positions (see Interval number for more details), and the major third () is a third spanning four

semitone A semitone, also called a 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 no ...

s. Forte, Allen (1979). ''Tonal Harmony in Concept and Practice'', p.8. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. Third edition . "A large 3rd, or ''major 3rd'' (M3) encompassing four half steps." Along with the

minor third In music theory, a minor third is a musical interval that encompasses three half steps, or semitones. Staff notation represents the minor third as encompassing three staff positions (see: interval number). The minor third is one of two com ...

, the major third is one of two commonly occurring thirds. It is qualified as ''major'' because it is the larger of the two: the major third spans four semitones, the

three. For example, the interval from C to E is a major third, as the note E lies four semitones above C, and there are three staff positions from C to E. Diminished and

augmented third In classical music from Western culture, an augmented third () is an interval of five semitones. It may be produced by widening a major third by a chromatic semitone.Benward & Saker (2003). ''Music: In Theory and Practice, Vol. I'', p.54. . For ...

s span the same number of staff positions, but consist of a different number of semitones (two and five). The major third may be derived from the harmonic series as the interval between the fourth and fifth harmonics. The

major scale The major scale (or Ionian mode) is one of the most commonly used musical scales, especially in Western music. It is one of the diatonic scales. Like many musical scales, it is made up of seven notes: the eighth duplicates the first at doub ...

is so named because of the presence of this interval between its tonic and

mediant In music, the mediant (''Latin'': to be in the middle) is the third scale degree () of a diatonic scale, being the note halfway between the tonic and the dominant.Benward & Saker (2003), p.32. In the movable do solfège system, the mediant note ...

(1st and 3rd)

scale degrees In music theory, the scale degree is the position of a particular note on a scale relative to the tonic, the first and main note of the scale from which each octave is assumed to begin. Degrees are useful for indicating the size of intervals a ...

. The

major chord In music theory Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the " rudiments", that are needed to understan ...

also takes its name from the presence of this interval built on the chord's

root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the su ...

(provided that the interval of a

perfect fifth In music theory, a perfect fifth is the musical interval corresponding to a pair of pitches with a frequency ratio of 3:2, or very nearly so. In classical music from Western culture, a fifth is the interval from the first to the last of five ...

from the root is also present or implied). A major third is slightly different in different

musical tuning In music, there are two common meanings for tuning: * Tuning practice, the act of tuning an instrument or voice. * Tuning systems, the various systems of pitches used to tune an instrument, and their theoretical bases. Tuning practice Tun ...

s: in

just intonation In music, just intonation or pure intonation is the tuning of musical intervals as whole number ratios (such as 3:2 or 4:3) of frequencies. An interval tuned in this way is said to be pure, and is called a just interval. Just intervals (and ...

it corresponds to a pitch ratio of 5:4 () (fifth harmonic in relation to the fourth) or 386.31 cents; in

equal temperament An equal temperament is a musical temperament or tuning system, which approximates just intervals by dividing an octave (or other interval) into equal steps. This means the ratio of the frequencies of any adjacent pair of notes is the same, ...

, a major third is equal to four

s, a ratio of 2^1/3:1 (about 1.2599) or 400 cents, 13.69

cent Cent may refer to: Currency * Cent (currency), a one-hundredth subdivision of several units of currency * Penny (Canadian coin), a Canadian coin removed from circulation in 2013 * 1 cent (Dutch coin), a Dutch coin minted between 1941 and 1944 * ...

s wider than the 5:4 ratio. The older concept of a ditone (two 9:8 major seconds) made a dissonantly wide major third with the ratio 81:64 (about 1.2656) or 408 cents (). The

septimal major third In music, the septimal major third , also called the supermajor third (by Hermann von Helmholtz among others Hermann L. F. von Helmholtz (2007). '' Sensations of Tone'', p. 187. .) and sometimes '' Bohlen–Pierce third'' is the musical interval ...

is 9:7 (435 cents), the undecimal major third is 14:11 (418 cents), and the tridecimal major third is 13:10 (452 cents). In equal temperament three major thirds in a row are equal to an octave (for example, A to C, C to E, and E to G; G and A represent the same note). This is sometimes called the " circle of thirds". In just intonation, however, three 5:4 major third, the 125th

subharmonic In music, the undertone series or subharmonic series is a sequence of notes that results from inverting the intervals of the overtone series. While overtones naturally occur with the physical production of music on instruments, undertones mus ...

, is less than an octave. For example, three 5:4 major thirds from C is B (C to E to G to B) (B

= 5^3/2^6= 125/64

). The difference between this just-tuned B and C, like that between G and A, is called the "enharmonic

diesis In classical music from Western culture, a diesis ( , plural dieses ( , "difference"; Greek: δίεσις "leak" or "escape"Benson, Dave (2006). ''Music: A Mathematical Offering'', p.171. . Based on the technique of playing the aulos, where ...

", about 41 cents (the inversion of the 125/64 interval:

128/125 = 2^7/5^3

)). The major third is classed as an imperfect consonance and is considered one of the most consonant intervals after the

unison In music, unison is two or more musical parts that sound either the same pitch or pitches separated by intervals of one or more octaves, usually at the same time. ''Rhythmic unison'' is another term for homorhythm. Definition Unison or per ...

octave In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...

, and

perfect fourth A fourth is a musical interval encompassing four staff positions in the music notation of Western culture, and a perfect fourth () is the fourth spanning five semitones (half steps, or half tones). For example, the ascending interval from C to ...

. In the

common practice period In European art music, the common-practice period is the era of the tonal system. Most of its features persisted from the mid-Baroque period through the Classical and Romantic periods, roughly from 1650 to 1900. There was much stylistic evoluti ...

, thirds were considered interesting and dynamic consonances along with their inverses the sixths, but in

medieval times In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

they were considered dissonances unusable in a stable final sonority. A diminished fourth is

enharmonic In modern musical notation and tuning, an enharmonic equivalent is a note, interval, or key signature that is equivalent to some other note, interval, or key signature but "spelled", or named differently. The enharmonic spelling of a writte ...

ally equivalent to a major third (that is, it spans the same number of semitones). For example, B–D is a major third; but if the same pitches are spelled B and E, the interval is instead a diminished fourth. B–E occurs in the C

harmonic minor scale In music theory, the minor scale is three scale patterns – the natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode), the harmonic minor scale, and the melodic minor scale (ascending or descending) – rather than just two as with the major scale, which al ...

. The major third is used in

guitar tunings Guitar tunings are the assignment of pitches to the open strings of guitars, including acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and classical guitars. Tunings are described by the particular pitches that are made by notes in Western music. By ...

. For the standard tuning, only the interval between the 3rd and 2nd strings (G to B, respectively) is a major third; each of the intervals between the other pairs of consecutive strings is a perfect fourth. In an alternative tuning, the major-thirds tuning, each of the intervals are major thirds.

Interval sounds

* Minor thirds: * Major thirds

References

{{Intervals Thirds (music) Major intervals ru:Терция (интервал)#Разновидности терции

Interval sounds

See also

References