Understanding Tone Intervals – Music is one of the elements that is very inherent in our daily lives. Music is like a mandatory menu that we are sure to find on our plates. Wherever we are, we are bound to hear music; in shopping centers, on public transportation, or even we consciously choose to listen to it through our electronic devices.
Music also has a long history. Almost no human civilization has escaped music. Every human activity, both social and cultural, is tied to music. This fact proves that music has an important role in human life.
However, music is not something simple. It consists of several tones arranged in such a way as to be familiar or acceptable to the human ear. Of course, this is a step that is not simple. That’s why of the many songs released in the world, there are only a handful that get the title of best recording, best seller, or best song every year.
One of the crucial things that must be done by musicians or song composers is to adjust the distance between one note and another. This is the so-called tone interval.
As a work of art, music has a series of pitch intervals which are the creative process of the musicians involved behind it. Not only the work of the brain, the tone intervals in music certainly combine the feelings of the creator.
The following is a further explanation of tone intervals.
Know Music
Music or song is a work that is produced from complex sounds. The following is a basic theory that needs to be known in music according to Harry Sulastianto in the book Arts and Culture .
1. Sound
According to Irwandy in the book Metal Science , sound is an elastic vibration of air that can be heard. Not only comes from the human esophagus, the sounds contained in music can also come from the sounds produced by musical instruments. There are several important aspects contained in sound such as tuning, intensity, duration, and timbre.
2. Tone
According to Yoyok RM and Siswandi in the book Cultural Arts Education 1 SMP, tone is the main element in music which is understood as the highness and lowness of the sound. Music or song is a product that is produced from tones that are joined in the arrangement of scales.
There are a number of tones that we have known and used for centuries. The most familiar tones are for example in the form of not do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si, do or also called diatonic scales. In other situations, the notes are also written as c, d, e, f, g, a, b, c.
The following are terms in the arrangement of tones in a music or song.
a. Tone series
According to Hendri Hartanto in the book Quick and Easy Ways to Master Middle School Physics , a series of tones is a sequence of tones according to the magnitude of the frequency.
b. Musical scale
Unlike the case with rhythm which is related to the duration or certain period of time when a note is played, scales are related to the high and low notes in a series of sounds. According to J. Julia, et al in the book Development of Digital-Based Music Learning Media for Elementary Schools , scales are levels of tonal sounds based on their frequency. Scales can also be defined as the basic tone arrangement of a tone system. There are two types of scales that we usually know, namely, diatonic scales and pentatonic scales.
- Diatonic scales
Diatonic scales contain a series of seven basic notes in one octave, so that when the sequence of seven notes is played, it will repeat when it reaches the end. The distance between one note and the next in a diatonic scale is usually one and a half.
Furthermore, diatonic scales are divided into two, namely major diatonic scales and minor diatonic scales. Major diatonic scales are usually found in songs with fast tempos or beats that give the impression of enthusiasm. Meanwhile, minor diatonic scales are often found in music with a sad nuance. - Pentatonic scales
Unlike the diatonic scales, pentatonic scales have only five basic notes in one octave. The pentatonic scale is further divided into two types, namely the slendro pentatonic scale and the pelog pentatonic scale. Both the pelog pentatonic scale and the slendro pentatonic scale have pleasant tonal characteristics. The difference lies in the distance between the notes, the pelog pentatonic scale has a large enough pitch distance. In contrast, the slendro pentatonic scale has a relatively small range of notes. - Tone Interval
If interpreted freely, then the interval means distance. Not much different from that definition, tone interval can be interpreted as the distance that separates one tone from another. The interval of a note is usually determined by its basic tone.
3. Rhythm
Referring to the book Smart to Play the Violin in 1 Day by Rhino Sanjaya, rhythm is an element of time in music that results from its duration and accents. Rhythm consists of a note value, which is a count or beat mark in a measure such as 1 beat, 2 beats, or 4 beats.
There are several beats that are commonly used, such as full notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, up to sixteenth notes. Full notes or whole notes mean that in one measure it is worth 4 beats. Meanwhile, a half note is worth 2 beats, while a quarter note is worth 1 beat. While the eighth note is worth half of 1 beat and the sixteenth note is worth half of the half beat.
4. Melody
Melody comes from the Greek word “meloidia” which means singing or shouting. Erlina in the article Between Rhythm and Melody defines melody as a series of tones that sound sequential and rhythmic and express an idea. According to Sahabuddin Mahganna in the book Olioreang: Rhythmic Entities and Mandar Melodies, melodies usually consist of one or more musical phrases or motifs, and are usually repeated in songs of various forms.
5. Notation
Notation is an instruction or description of an idea related to a piece of music as outlined in written form. Notation contains the desired tone arrangement musicians. However, these tones are represented in the form of notes. The standard notation that is usually found in a piece of music is block notation. Sometimes in a song notation lyrics are also included. Notations need to be made by a musician so that his work can be translated properly for both fellow musicians and lay people. For this reason, musicians must have the ability to read notation.
6. Harmony
According to Kanisius Jamalus in the book Teaching Music Through Musical Experience , harmony is the sound of a combination of two or more tones that differ in height and are heard simultaneously. However, a harmony in music can also occur if the notes are sounded in sequence.
According to Komang Mahardika, et al in the book Introduction to Chamber Music Works “Kacang Dari”, harmony in music is used as a strong accompaniment and support for the melody of a song. Harmonies play an important role in defining the notes in a melody in a notation. That way, the sound produced for a harmony must be precise in order to be able to represent the piece of music according to the expectations of the creator.
Definition of Tone Intervals
In a line of song or music, a note that leads to another takes a distance. This distance is called the tone interval. Referring to the book Vibrations and Waves by Yohanes Surya, pitch interval is the ratio of the frequency of a tone with a higher frequency to a tone with a lower frequency.
Launching from the Music Radar page, in Western music theory, when naming a musical interval, there are two things to consider: quality and distance or number. Quality refers to the type of interval (major, minor, perfect, etc.), whereas spacing refers to the number of notes recorded by the interval. These can be unison second, terts, quarts, quints, sects, septims, and octaves.
However, one thing that tends to confuse people is that the number of semitones spanned by an interval does not always correspond to the number in the name. To understand this, we need to look at the relationship between the degrees of the scale from which the two ends of the interval are taken.
Classification of Tone Intervals
There are several criteria that can be used as a differentiator or comparison between one interval and another.
1. Melody and harmony
Harmony intervals occur when two notes are heard simultaneously. Meanwhile, melodic intervals occur when two notes are heard in succession, either when a low note goes to a higher tone (up) or when a high note goes to a lower tone (down).
2. Diatonic and chromatic
The diatonic interval is the interval formed by the two notes of the diatonic scale. The chromatic interval is the non-diatonic interval formed by the two notes of the chromatic scale.
3. Consonants and dissonances
Consonant and dissonant are terms that refer to the stability or stagnation of certain musical effects. A dissonant interval is an interval that has tension and usually ends with a consonant interval in a piece of music or song.
4. Simple and compound
A single interval or also called a simple interval ( simple ) is an interval that spans at most one octave. Intervals that span more than one octave are called compound intervals , because they can be obtained by adding one or more octaves to a single interval.
5. Steps and skips
Linear intervals (melodies) can be described as steps or skips . A step or conjunction move is the linear interval between two successive notes of a scale. The larger intervals are called leaps (also called leaps ), or separate moves. In the diatonic scale, a step is one minor second (sometimes also called a half step) or major second (sometimes also called a whole step), with all intervals of a minor third or greater skipped.
In simpler terms, steps are smaller or narrower intervals in a musical line, and skips are wider or larger intervals, where the categorization of intervals into steps and skips is determined by the tuning system and tone space used.
6. Enharmonic
Two intervals are considered enharmonic or enharmonic equivalent if they contain the same note spelled differently; that is, if the notes in the two intervals are themselves enharmonic equivalent. The enharmonic interval includes the same number of semitones.
Tone interval type
The following are types of pitch intervals based on two categories according to Western music theory, namely number and quality.
1. Tone interval based on quality
a. Major
In the diatonic scale there are seven intervals for each interval number, each starting on a different note. The interval formed by the diatonic scale is called the diatonic interval. Except for unisons and octaves, diatonic intervals with a given interval number always occur in two measures, which differ by one semitone. If in a diatonic interval, some semitones are greater than other semitones, the greater semitone is called a major.
b. Minor
In contrast to major intervals, if in a series of diatonic intervals there are several smaller semitones, then these semitones are known as minor.
c. augmented
With the same number of intervals, an augmented interval is one semitone wider than a perfect or major interval. If one of the two versions is a perfect interval, the other widened interval is called augmented .
d. diminished
An interval is called a diminished interval if it is one semitone narrower than a perfect interval with the same number of intervals.
e. Perfect
The interval is called the perfect because it has traditionally been considered a perfect consonant, although in western classical music a perfect quart is sometimes considered a less than perfect consonance, when the function is contrapuntal. In the diatonic scale all unisons and octaves are called perfect. Most quarts and quints are also perfect, with five and seven semitones respectively.
2. Tone interval based on numbers
a. Unison
The unison interval, also known as a prim, is the distance between one note and the same note. An example is the transition from a do tone to a do tone. When written as a ratio, unison intervals are described as 1:1
b. Second
Seconde or second interval is the distance between one note to the tone above or below it. A second can also be referred to as a two-note interval.
c. Terts
The third note is the distance between one note and the third note or two notes above or below it. Terts can also be referred to as three-note intervals.
d. Quart
The distance between a note to a fourth note or three notes above or below it is called the quart interval. A quart can also be referred to as a four note interval.
e. Quint
The distance between a note to the fifth note or four notes above or below it is called the quint interval. Quints can also be referred to as five-note intervals.
f. sect
The distance between a note to the sixth note or five notes above or below it is called the sect interval. Sects can also be referred to as six-tone intervals.
g. Septim
The distance between a note to the seventh note or six notes above or below it is called the septim interval. Septims can also be referred to as seven-note intervals.
h. Octave
The distance between a note to the eighth or seven notes above or below it is called the octave interval. Octave can also be referred to as an interval of eight notes.
That is the meaning of pitch intervals and various things related to pitch intervals that we need to understand. Sinaumed’s can read books related to music at sinaumedia.com . As #Friends Without Limits, sinaumedia always provides the best products so you have #MoreWithReading information.