| Inverse | major sixth |
|---|---|
| Name | |
| Other names | sesquitone |
| Abbreviation | m3 |
| Size | |
| Semitones | 3 |
| Interval class | 3 |
| Just interval | 6:5, 19:16, 32:27[1] |
| Cents | |
| 12-Tone equal temperament | 300 |
| Just intonation | 316, 298, 294 |
Inmusic theory, aminor third is amusical interval that encompasses threehalf steps, orsemitones.Staff notation represents the minor third as encompassing threestaff positions (see:interval number). The minor third is one of two commonly occurring thirds. It is calledminor because it is the smaller of the two: themajor third spans an additional semitone. For example, the interval from A to C is a minor third, as the note C lies three semitones above A.
Diminished andaugmented thirds span the same number of staff positions, but consist of a different number of semitones (two and five). The minor third is askip melodically.
The minor third is classed as animperfect consonance and is considered one of the most consonant intervals after theunison,octave,perfect fifth, andperfect fourth. It may be derived from theharmonic series as the interval between the fifth and sixth harmonics, or from the 19thharmonic.
The minor third is commonly used to express sadness in music, and research shows that this mirrors its use in speech, as a tone similar to a minor third is produced during sad speech.[2] It is also aquartal (based on an ascendance of one or moreperfect fourths)tertian interval, as opposed to themajor third's quintality. The minor third is also obtainable in reference to afundamental note from theundertone series, while the major third is obtainable as such from theovertone series. (SeeOtonality and Utonality.)
Theminor scale is so named because of the presence of this interval between itstonic andmediant (1st and 3rd)scale degrees.Minor chords too take their name from the presence of this interval built on the chord'sroot (provided that the interval of aperfect fifth from the root is also present or implied).
Thesopranino saxophone andE♭ clarinet sound in theconcert pitch (C) a minor third higher than the written pitch; therefore, to get the sounding pitch one musttranspose the written pitch up a minor third. Instruments in A – most commonly theA clarinet, sound a minor third lower than the written pitch.
A minor third, injust intonation, corresponds to a pitch ratio of 6:5 or 315.64cents. In anequal tempered tuning, a minor third is equal to threesemitones, a ratio of 21/4:1 (about 1.189), or 300 cents, 15.64 cents narrower than the 6:5 ratio. In othermeantone tunings it is wider, and in19 equal temperament it is very nearly the 6:5 ratio of just intonation; in more complexschismatic temperaments, such as53 equal temperament, the "minor third" is often significantly flat (being close toPythagorean tuning (playⓘ)), although the "augmented second" produced by such scales is often within ten cents of a pure 6:5 ratio. If a minor third is tuned in accordance with the fundamental of theovertone series, the result is a ratio of 19:16 or 297.51 cents (the nineteenth harmonic).[3]
The 12-TET minor third (300 cents) more closely approximates the nineteenth harmonic with only 2.49 cents error.[4] M. Ergo mistakenly claimed that the nineteenth harmonic was the highest ever written, for the bass-trumpet inRichard Wagner'sDer Ring des Nibelungen (1848–74), whenRobert Schumann's Op. 86Konzertstück for 4 Horns and Orchestra (1849) features thetwentieth harmonic (four octaves and a major third above the fundamental) in the first horn part three times.[5]
Other pitch ratios are given related names, theseptimal minor third with ratio 7:6 and the tridecimal minor third with ratio 13:11 in particular.
Inmusic theory, asemiditone (orPythagorean minor third)[6] is theinterval 32:27 (approximately 294.13cents). It is the minor third inPythagorean tuning. The 32:27 Pythagorean minor third arises in the5-limitjustly tuned major scale between the 2nd and 4th degrees (in the Cmajor scale, between D and F).[7]Playⓘ
It can be thought of as twooctaves minus threejustly tunedfifths. It is narrower than a justly tuned minor third by asyntonic comma. Its inversion is aPythagorean major sixth.[citation needed]
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