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CHAPTER 4 INTERVALS Artist in Residence: Adele • Identify melodic and harmonic intervals both in quality and size • Notate specified intervals • Recognize intervals within a musical score • Understand transposing instruments in terms of interval of transposition • Transpose a musical line for use with various instruments Chapter Objectives Imagine singing along to “Let It Go” from Frozen without the leap up on to the phrase “I don’t care what they’re going to say.” Or if the opening of Goyte’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” consisted only of the opening verses and not the large leap to the chorus with “She didn’t have to cut me off.” If you aren’t familiar with these songs, just take a quick listen. Music would be pretty monotonous if the notes were made up of only half and whole steps. For that reason, we are grateful to take on the study of intervals, the distance between two pitches. Melodic intervals occur when two pitches sound in succession, and harmonic intervals occur when the pitches sound simultaneously. Melodic Harmonic Page proof, not theœ final˙ product. ©Oxford University Press & œ# ˙# Intervals |71 The interval number, or size, can be determined by counting the letters between the two pitches. Figure 4-2 shows several intervals and their corresponding interval number. The first example is a fourth, because the number of letters in between C and F, including the C and F is four (C, D, E, and F). The second example is a sixth, because the number of letters in between E and C♯ is 6 (E, F, G, A, B, C). #œ œ #œ œbœ œ œ & œ œœ œ 4 6 5 2 7 8 Play the following intervals on your keyboard or guitar. & œ œb œ œn The distance between F and B is a fourth, so the interval size is the same, but they cer- tainly sound different. That is because intervals are identified by both interval size and interval quality. INTERVAL QUALITY: THE MAJOR SCALE METHOD (1, 4, 5, 8) The intervals of the 1, 4, 5, and 8 are unique in many regards and are sometimes called the perfect intervals. Look at where these intervals naturally lie in the major scale in relation- ship to the tonic. œ œ œ & b œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ P1 P4 P5 P8 The perfect intervals are on the tonic, subdominant, and dominant. Listen to these intervals. When you play them, they should sound fairly consonant, especially historically speaking. More on why they are called perfect later (page xx)! The smallest interval is that of the unison, sometimes called prime. The pitch F to the same pitch F is an example of this. The octave is formed when the pitch is repeated in a different register, such as F4 to F5. If the upper pitch of a 1, 4, 5, or 8 is diatonic in the major scale of the lower pitch, the interval quality is always perfect. But what if the interval uses a pitch outside of the major scale? This happens often, and for that reason, we need to have an excellent understanding of the major key signatures. In order to identify the correct quality of the interval, determine whether the upper pitch is found within the major key of the bottom pitch. If the top pitch is found diatoni- cally within the key, the interval is perfect. If the upper pitch is raised a half step, the interval is labeled augmented (+) because the interval is made larger. If the upper pitch is a half step lower, the interval is labeled as diminished (°) because the interval is made smaller. Let’s put this into a specific context. ? 1/2 step higher 1/2 step lower œ œ œ œ# œ œb Page proof, not the final product. ©Oxford University Press P4 +4 º4 72 | Intervals All three of the intervals are fourths. By thinking in the key of B major (the lowest pitch of the interval), you know that E is found diatonically in the key, so the first interval is a perfect fourth. The second interval uses E♯ and is a half a step above what you expect it to be—there’s the augmented fourth. The E♭ is not found diatonically within the key of ♮ B major and is a half step below the expected E . The interval is labeled as a diminished fourth. The following chart may help you a bit! Interval size 1, 4, 5, 8 ½ step below Top pitch fi ts into key ½ step above Diminished Perfect Augmented Study the example in Figure 4-6 to determine whether each upper pitch is diatonic. œ œ# œ œ & bœ œ œ The only interval in Figure 4-6 that is perfect is the last interval. INVERSION OF INTERVALS You may be asking, “But, what if I can’t think in the key of the bottom note? Who wants to think in the key of F♭, or even worse, G♯?” That’s where inversion comes in and will fully answer the question about why 1, 4, 5, and 8 are called the perfect intervals. An inverted interval is just that: the original lower pitch becomes the upper pitch and vice versa. When a perfect interval is inverted, it stays perfect. The pitches F up to B♭ create a perfect fourth (the B♭ is diatonic in the key of F). By flipping the interval and placing the B♭ as the lowest pitch, the interval is now identified as a perfect fifth (B♭–F). In the same manner, a diminished interval will invert to an augmented interval and an augmented interval will invert to a diminished interval. œ & œb bœ P5 P4 Inverting intervals is a helpful practice when you can’t seem to think in the key of the bottom note. Study the interval below. No one wants to think in the key of F♭, so flip the interval. The B♭ is now on the bottom and we can easily determine that the interval is a diminished fifth. By default, the inversion of the diminished fifth is an augmented fourth. bœ & bbœ b œ bbœ ?+4º5 Perfect inverts to perfect. Page proof, notDiminished the inverts final to augmented. product. ©Oxford University Press Augmented inverts to diminished. Intervals |73 BACKSTAGE PASS Rolling in the Deep In early 2011, the then 23-year-old British singer Adele found herself at the top of the BSIT E E W charts with two singles and two albums. That was no small task considering the only other group to reach this milestone was the Beatles back in 1964. You could hardly turn on the radio in 2011 without hearing “Rolling in the Deep” at least once every hour. The song VIDEO spent 7 weeks at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is still one of the biggest-selling TRACK 24 digital downloads of all time. The album 21 was number 1 in twenty-six countries and sold 352,000 copies in its first week. Unbelievable! By the time the 2012 Grammys came around, it was basically a given that Adele would sweep all the categories. No one was surprised when she left the auditorium with Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best Music Video. Born in London in 1988, Adele Laurie Blue Adkins was enthralled by music, including the vocals of Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, the Spice Girls, Destiny’s Child, and even Pink. In an interview with Spinner magazine, Adele describes watching a performance of Pink at Brixton Academy: “I had never heard, being in the room, someone sing like that live. I remember sort of feeling like I was in a wind tunnel, her voice just hitting me. It was incredible.” Adele was only 13 years old. 21 wasn’t her first album and it certainly wasn’t her first success. Her debut album, 19, entered the British charts at number 1. Adele credits her success in the United States with her October 2008 appearance on Saturday Night Live. During the taping of the show, 19 was ranked number 40 on iTunes. Less than 24 hours later, it had climbed to number 1. That’s the power of late night television! Written by Adele and Ryan Tedder, the song “Rumour Has It” is the only single released BSIT E E W from 21 to not reach the number 1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100. It peaked at number 16, but interestingly enough, the mash-up version heard on the television series Glee outranked the single by ascending to the number 11 spot in December of 2011. (Interestingly enough, VIDEO it did take the top spot in both Israel and South Korea!) The jazz influences, along with the TRACK 25 driving percussion motive, are the main players in this particular song. Listen to “Rumour Has It” on the YouTube channel. How would you describe the over- all sound, especially the sudden change at 2:20? Adele herself even called it a “bluesy, pop stomping song.” The middle eleven measures are strikingly different from the rest of the song. Study the excerpt in Figure 4-9. The perfect fourth and fifth and diminished fourths and fifths are marked for you in the score. Practice identifying other intervals throughout Page proof,the score. not the final product. ©Oxford University Press 74 | Intervals Figure 4.9 Adele, “Rumour Has It.” Songwriters: Adele and Ryan Tedder Much slower P4 (D-A) b 4 Œ‰ 3 61 Œ & 4 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ P1 (melody in œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ unison with All of these words whis- pered in my ear accompaniment) b 4 3 & 4 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ ? 4 b 4 ˙ ˙# ˙ ˙ D min: º4 (C#-F) 62 3 63 64 2 & b ‰ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ.

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