{"id":390,"date":"2012-11-19T10:47:32","date_gmt":"2012-11-19T18:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.garygarrett.me\/?p=390"},"modified":"2017-08-18T09:04:00","modified_gmt":"2017-08-18T16:04:00","slug":"the-major-seventh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.garygarrett.me\/?p=390","title":{"rendered":"The Major Seventh"},"content":{"rendered":"

The notes get more exotic as you move outward from the center. The ninth<\/a> is quite consonant, but not nearly as consonant as the fifth. (Consonance and dissonance<\/a>\u00a0are descriptions of feelings; they are part of the flavor of an interval<\/a>, and I don’t think the last word has been written on them yet. I’ll be taking my shot later in these pages.)<\/p>\n

For very small ratios such as 3\/2, the ear has no trouble perceiving where it is on the map. The signal given by 3\/2 is so strong, in fact, that it’s the primary tool used in classical music to move the ear to a new key<\/a> center.<\/p>\n

As the numbers get bigger, the signal gets weaker, and the interval gets more dissonant. To get to the major second, you multiply by 3 twice. Then, using\u00a0octave reduction<\/a>, you\u00a0can put it in any octave you want. \u00a0I chose 9:4 in yesterday’s example<\/a>, giving an interval of a major ninth — an octave plus a major second.<\/p>\n

Compounding a fifth and a third gives somewhat larger numbers (3×5 = 15, or a ratio of 15\/8) and, sure enough, the note is more dissonant against the tonic. Yet it has its own unique beauty. Presenting the major seventh<\/a>:<\/p>\n