Talk:Major third

Interval ratio

Just wondering... in the stats box at the top right, would it not make sense to give the intervals (in the form of a decimal number) to the equal tempered and Pythagorean major third too? So 1.25992 and 1.265625.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.110.15.142 (talk) 07:07, 4 January 2007

I've added that the M3rd is harmonically significant because it is the quarter-point of the octave (E.g., 2^4/12 = appr. 1.25). See Normalizing the Musical Scale for info to back up that claim. (GaulArmstrong)

I'm confused by this, in the sentence "A major third in just intonation most often corresponds to a pitch ratio of 5:4 (which, as a ratio of small numbers, is harmonically significant) or 1.25:1, or various other ratios" -- as I understand it, ratios in just intonation are typically kept as whole numbers, so 1.25:1 looked odd and I instinctively converted it to a whole number ratio equivalent, which turned out to be 5:4. The sentence seems to be saying that 1.25:1 is not the same as 5:4. I looked at the Normalizing the Musical Scale page and was rather overwhelmed with math. I've long thought the 5:4 major third was significant for being the (octave-reduced) fifth harmonic -- the simplest of the ratios based on the prime number 5. Pfly 03:10, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

Sounds like ...

In the Perfect fourth article, someone has provided a very nice way to remember what that interval sounds like:

A helpful way to recognize a perfect fourth is to hum the starting of the "Bridal Chorus" from Wagner's Lohengrin ("Treulich geführt", the colloquially-titled "Here Comes the Bride"). Other examples are the first two notes of the Christmas carol "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing", and, for a descending perfect fourth, the second and third notes of "O Come All Ye Faithful".

Can someone provide some similar comparisons for the major-third interval? Thank you!CountMacula (talk) 18:27, 21 June 2012 (UTC)

CountMacula, the article Ear training lists such examples for every interval size.CountMacula (talk) 17:43, 8 October 2012 (UTC)

Examples may be confusing

I have often heard Swing Low begun with the dominant, and falling by a MINOR third (as per the second line of the printed example in the article) - the confusion makes the use of this example unhelpful - can we find another? - I'm struggling myself.

Similarly "When the Saints" is often started by singing "When the Saints, Oh When the Saints" (ie without "Oh" as the first word), and it is of course only the interval between "Oh and "When" that gives the major third. I suggest we either be explicit and point to the "Oh When" interval, or perhaps we could reference the song as "Oh When The Saints" so that the first two syllables are clearly "Oh When"

 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kenny.devon (talk • contribs) 10:22, 28 November 2014 (UTC) 

We need three audio files!!! not one!!!

very crucial for musical analysis (in statistical psychology we put these sounds and we ask people to describe them, - many (more than one octave) sequential notes of the major third interval sound like mystery; mystery sounds like a "well mixed happy disharmony" but not as separately happy and separately disharmonious melody, it's a harmonious blend which creates something new. If we mix intervals of happiness and disharmony (as statistically labeled by people) in a non regular way... people call that sound "morbid". Pure disharmony is statistically labeled by people as horror. Unstable disharmonic melodies with some random "happy intervals" are statistically labeled by people as "morbid". We can mathematically discribe all these co-soundings and series in an absolute way, but people create a more complex labeling system. We don't have enough books about the actual psychological statistics of all combinations. Some Germans tested only few combinations of notes... that's not enough! Statistical psychology is a hard core science, not a dialectic joke, it is something based on actual data!)

1. two co-sounding notes of the major third interval
2. two sequential notes of the major third interval
3. many (more than those inside one octave/play sequentially notes from many octaves) sequential notes of the major third interval

One paragraph removed

I removed one short paragraph because it read like an instruction. --Myrtonos (talk) 01:01, 15 March 2021 (UTC)

Yeah, good call. Ceoil (talk) 01:46, 15 March 2021 (UTC)