Music · Rung 2 of 14

Closer or further

Before a distance has a name, you hear that it is a distance. Two pairs of notes sound and all you have to say is which one opens wider, without counting anything and without knowing what either is called. It is the same ear that compares two pitches, applied to two leaps, and it is what makes the word “interval” mean something: music does not work with absolute pitches but with distances, so learning to measure them comes before learning to name them.

Where this sits

Comes after
High and low
Opens up
Tone and semitone

Exercises from this rung

Generated by the app, from easiest to hardest

  1. Which pair opens less?

    • Both the same
    • The first one
    • The second one

    Why The first pair opened by 3 semitones and the second by 10. You do not need to know what they are called: it is enough to hear which stretches further. That is what an interval measures, and it is what lets the same tune started higher still be the same tune.

    easier

  2. Which pair opens wider?

    • Both the same
    • The second one
    • The first one

    Why The first pair opened by 9 semitones and the second by 3. You do not need to know what they are called: it is enough to hear which stretches further. That is what an interval measures, and it is what lets the same tune started higher still be the same tune.

    harder