As a musician, understanding the differences between ascending and descending intervals is an essential part of developing one’s skills. It can be a confusing topic to master, but luckily, there are plenty of helpful tips and tricks that can make it easier to grasp. In this article, we’ll explore some of the most helpful insights that people have shared about ascending and descending intervals, and we’ll even include a fictional personal experience to help illustrate the concepts.
Rule of Nines
One helpful concept to keep in mind when working with intervals is the Rule of Nines. As one commenter pointed out, any interval and its opposite will always add up to 9. This means that majors become minors and vice versa, and diminished becomes augmented and vice versa. For example, a major 6th and a minor 3rd both add up to 9, so you can use this rule to double-check whether you’ve correctly identified an interval.
Building Chords and Intervals
Another helpful insight came from a commenter who pointed out that all intervals are measured from the lowest note. For example, if you’re working with the notes C and A, and C is the lowest note, the interval is a major 6th. However, if A is the lowest note, the interval is a minor 3rd. Similarly, when building chords, you stack thirds in an ascending direction, so all intervals are dominant direction only. As a fictional personal example, one time the author was playing a song with a guitar and was confused why the chord progression didn’t seem to match the key, but they later realized that the chords were built using sub-dominant intervals.
Inverting Intervals
When you invert an interval, the sum of the original interval and the inverted interval will always be 9, as another commenter pointed out. In addition, the character of the interval will invert, so a minor 2nd becomes a major 7th, and a major 6th becomes a minor 3rd. This can be a helpful way to understand how intervals relate to each other, and it can also make chord inversions easier to understand.
Measuring Distances
Finally, it’s important to remember that intervals are always just measuring the distance between notes. Whether you’re ascending or descending, the distance between the notes will be the same, and that’s what determines the interval. As a fictional personal example, the author remembers struggling to hear the difference between ascending and descending intervals, but eventually learned to focus more on the distance between the notes rather than the direction.
Conclusion
Understanding the differences between ascending and descending intervals can be challenging, but by keeping these helpful insights in mind, it’s possible to develop a better sense of how to hear and identify intervals. As a summary, the Rule of Nines, building chords and intervals, inverting intervals, and measuring distances are all important concepts to understand. While it may take some practice to master these concepts, with time and patience, anyone can improve their skills and become a more confident musician.
