MUSIC. 



103 



quaint the reader with some expressions which musi- 

 cians employ. From any note to the next nearest it 

 in the scale, the interval is said to be a second. 

 From any note to the second from it in the scale, 

 the interval is said to be a third ; and, in fact, in 

 reckoning any interval, the two notes mentioned, 

 together with all the notes that may lie between 

 them in the scale, are counted thus in the natural 

 scale of C, reckoning from the key note, we have 

 the intervals as below. 



2d 3d 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 

 CDEF GA B C 



It must be evident from what has been said before, 

 that these intervals will be of different kinds. Thus 

 the interval from C to D is greater than that from E 

 to F ; the former being a full, and the latter a semi 

 tone ; they are both, however, intervals of a second, 

 and to distinguish them from each other, the one is 

 called a major, i. e. greater second, and the other a 

 minor, i. e. less. In like manner the interval from 

 C to E is said to be a major third, because it con- 

 tains two full tones, but the interval from D to F, 

 although a third, is said to be a minor, because it 

 contains only one full tone and a semi tone, and so 

 of all the other intervals. To invert an interval is 

 to place the lower tone an octave higher, so that it 

 becomes the more acute of the two, or vice versa. 

 Thus the interval from C to D is a major second, 

 but if we invert it by making the C an octave higher, 

 the interval becomes a minor seventh. 



A major second inverted becomes a minor seventh. 



I 



It is plain that any interval and its inversion com- 

 plete the octave, and hence they are called comple- 

 ments of each other. 



If we take the note A of the natural scale C, and 

 all the notes of that scale until we complete an 

 octave, that is, until we go up to the next A, we will 



form a scale bearing a very different character from 

 that previously considered. If this scale be 

 performed descending, we will find, when the 

 octave is completed, that the succession of tones is 

 not only agreeable, but that we have come to a 

 satisfactory close. 



On comparing the descent through the fifth from 

 E to A, with the descent through the fifth from G to 

 C, we will at once perceive a marked difference in the 

 character of the two strains ; the former being plain- 

 tive and wailing, the latter cheerful and bold. This 

 difference of character arises not from the difference 

 of pitch of the two strains, but from the difference 

 of relation among the intervals of which they are 

 composed. On examining the last thirds of these 

 strains we find the cause of this difference, for the 

 interval from C to A (in the scale of A) is a minor 

 third, being composed of one tone and a semi tone, 

 while that from E to C (in the scale of C) is a major 

 third, being composed of two full tones ; the scale 

 of C is, therefore, said to be major, and the scale of 

 A (as above considered) minor. 



We have said that it is to the thirds principally, 

 that we are to attribute the difference of the charac- 

 ter of these two scales ; but the minor sixth A F has 

 also a considerable effect. 



In ascending through the scale of A, we find that 

 we are obliged to sharpen the seventh note G, so 

 that the succession of tones may be agreeable, and 

 in so doing we find that the interval from F to G 

 becomes different from any of the other intervals of 

 the diatonic scale, and we are obliged to sharpen the 

 F also, so that the ear may be satisfied ; wherefore 

 we find that the minor scale is usually written in a 

 different manner, ascending and descending. Thus, 

 if the mark h called a natural, denotes that the note 

 before which it is placed is to be performed at the 

 same pitch as in the natural scale. 



Where any piece of music is written on the natural 

 scale of A minor, we have no flats or sharps at the 

 beginning of the stave ; but employing similar prin- 

 ciples to those that guided us in the construction of 



the various major scales, we may in like manner 

 form a system of minor scales to the various key notes 

 as below : 



