Major fourth and minor fifth

Major fourth
Inverse Minor fifth
Name
Other names Eleventh harmonic
Abbreviation M4
Size
Semitones ~5½
Interval class ~5½
Just interval 11:8
Cents
24 equal temperament 550
Just intonation 551.28
Minor fifth
Inverse Major fourth
Name
Other names Eleventh subharmonic
Abbreviation m5
Size
Semitones ~6½
Interval class ~5½
Just interval 16:11
Cents
24 equal temperament 650
Just intonation 648.68
Eleventh harmonic  Play 
Just augmented fourth on C  Play  and its inverse, the just tritone on C  Play 

In music, major fourth and minor fifth are intervals from the quarter tone scale, named by Ivan Wyschnegradsky to describe the tones surrounding the tritone (F/G) found in the more familiar twelve tone scale.[1]

perfect fourth major fourth tritone minor fifth perfect fifth
in C: F F F/G ≊ G G

Major fourth

A major fourth ( Play ) is the interval between the perfect fourth (500 cents) and the augmented fourth (600 cents) and thus 550 cents (F). It inverts to a minor fifth. Wyschnegradsky considered it a good approximation of the eleventh harmonic (11:8 or 551.28 cents).[1] A narrower undecimal major fourth is found at 537 cents (the ratio 15:11). 31 equal temperament has an interval of 542 cents, which lies in between the two types of undecimal major fourth.

The term may also be applied to the "comma-deficient major fourth" (or "chromatic major fourth"[2]) is the ratio 25:18, or 568.72 cents (F).[3]

Minor fifth

A minor fifth ( Play ) is the interval between the diminished fifth (600 cents) and the perfect fifth (700 cents) and thus 650 cents (G). It inverts to a major fourth. It approximates the eleventh subharmonic (G), 16:11 (648.68 cents).

The term may also be applied to the ratio 64:45 (G-) or 609.77 cents ( Play ), formed from the perfect fourth (4/3 = 498.04) and the major semitone (16/15 = 111.73),[2] which is sharp of the G tritone. The "comma-redundant minor fifth" has the ratio 36:25 (G), or 631.28 cents, and is formed from two minor thirds.[3] The tridecimal minor fifth (13:9), or tridecimal tritone, is slightly larger at 636.6 cents.

Other

The term major fourth may also be applied to the follow, as minor fifth may be applied to their inversions (in the sense of augmented and diminished):

See also

Sources

  1. 1 2 Skinner, Miles Leigh (2007). Toward a Quarter-tone Syntax: Analyses of Selected Works by Blackwood, Haba, Ives, and Wyschnegradsky, p.25. ProQuest. ISBN 9780542998478.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Richard Mackenzie Bacon (1821). "Manuscript Work of Francesco Bianchl", The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review, Volume 3, p.56.
  3. 1 2 3 (1832). The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, Volume 9, p.249. Joseph Parker. [ISBN unspecified]


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