• Harmony - The way notes are simultaneously sounded, creating a vertical element to music.

• Counterpoint - A single melody line or linear voice added to another line or voice.

Intervals

• Interval - The distance between two pitches.

  • They can be melodic or harmonic.

  • The exact interval size is described by quantity and quality.

  • Quality - Expressed by a number and determined by counting the distance between one letter name and the next letter name.

Identifying Interval Quality

• All intervals built from the tonic up to notes within a major scale are either major or perfect.

• Perfect intervals

  • Unison

  • Perfect fourth

  • Perfect fifth

  • Perfect eighth

• Major intervals

  • Major second

  • Major third

  • Major sixth

  • Major seventh

• A minor interval is one-half step smaller than major.

• Diminished interval - An interval that is one-half step smaller than perfect or minor.

• Augmented interval - An interval that is one-half step larger than major or perfect.

• Enharmonic intervals - They sound the same but are spelled differently and function differently.

• Doubly augmented interval - When a major or perfect interval is made one whole step larger without changing the letter names of the pitches.

• Doubly diminished interval - When a minor or perfect interval is made one whole step smaller without changing the letter names of the pitches.

If-Then Intervals

• If the top note is in the major key of the bottom note, then it is major or perfect.

• If the top note is a half step lower than the diatonic note would be, then it is a minor or diminished interval.

• If the top note is a half step higher than the diatonic note would be, then it is an augmented interval.

• If an interval is perfect, then both top and bottom pitches are in the other’s major key.

• If the same accidental is added to both upper and lower pitches, then the interval remains the same.

• If an accidental is added only to the bottom pitch, then the accidental has the opposite effect than when added to the note above:

  • If a flat is added to the lower pitch, the interval is larger.

  • If a sharp is added to the lower pitch, the interval is smaller.

• If the lower notes doesn’t represent a standard key, then determine what the interval would be without the accidental and adjust.

• Simple intervals - Intervals that are one octave or smaller in quantity.

  • They are expanded to a compound interval by adding seven

• Compound intervals - Intervals that are larger than an octave.

  • They are reduced to a simple interval by subtracting seven.

• Inverted intervals - Intervals are inverted by transferring the lower note an octave higher or by transferring the higher note an octave lower.

  • Major intervals invert to minor intervals.

  • Augmented intervals invert to diminished intervals.

• The rule of nine - When any simple interval is inverted, the sum of the ascending and descending intervals must add up to nine.

  • A second inverts to a seven.

  • A third inverts to a sixth.

  • A fourth inverts to a fifth.

• Consonant intervals - Stable

• Dissonant intervals - Unstable, the impression of activity or tension.

• Resolution - The motion of the dissonant interval to the consonant that acts as its goal.

• Within any four-part composition, these intervals may exist:

  • A-S, Alto and Soprano

  • T-S, Tenor and Soprano

  • T-A, Tenor and Alto

  • B-S, Bass and Soprano

  • B-A, Bass and Alto

  • B-T, Bass and Tenor

Triads

• Chord - A group of pitches that forms a single harmonic idea.

• Triad - A three-note chord made up of two intervals stacked in thirds.

• Root - The lower note of the chord.

• Third - The middle note because it’s an interval of a third above the root.

• Fifth - The upper note, it’s a fifth above the root.

Building Triads

• Tertian harmony - Harmony built on thirds.

• To build a triad:

  • Build the snowman in thirds above the root.

  • Identify the quality of the lower third as a major or minor.

  • Identify the quality of the fifth as perfect, diminished, or augmented.

  • Identify the chord with the pitch name letter (the root of the snowman).

  • Identify the quality of the triad