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Tutorials on all aspects of becoming an accomplished musician.

Writing Minor 3rds

In this lesson you will see a Minor 3rd lit up on your instrument, then you will write in in music notation.

We know that a Minor 3rd is equivalent to a Whole Step + a Half Step.

Piano Minor 3rds

Minor 3rds


The next interval we will learn about is called a Minor 3rd.

As we learned in previous lessons, an interval is called "Minor" if it is one half step smaller than a Major interval.

Minor 3rds

In this lesson we will learn about Minor 3rds.

Before we do, however, we need to talk a little bit more and how scales and intervals are related.

Dictation – 2nds

Now you will listen to an interval, decide if it is a Major or Minor 2nd, then write it in music notation.

Please press the Exercise button below.

Playing by Ear – 2nds

Now you will listen to an interval, decide if it is a Major or Minor 2nd, then play it on your instrument.

Ear Training 2nds – Chord

Now you will learn to distinguish Minor and Major 2nds played as a chord.

Both these intervals are dissonant which means rough sounding, as we learned earlier.

A Minor 2nd is called a strong dissonance because it sounds very harsh.

However, a Major 2nd is called a weak dissonance because it sounds less harsh.

Ear Training 2nds – Down

Now you will learn to distinguish Minor and Major 2nds played down

Listen to the two examples here to familiarize yourself with the sound of each.

Ear Training 2nds

Now you will listen to an interval and decide if it is a Major or Minor 2nd.

Listen to the two examples here to familiarize yourself with the sound of each.

Analyzing Written 2nds

Now you will read a piece of written music and decide if the interval is a Minor 2nd or a Major 2nd.

To do this, it is critical to remember the pattern W W 1/2, W W W 1/2.

You can also remember that the half steps are between EF and BC.

Scales Advanced Piano

This tutorial will explain more advanced concepts about Scales.

In the previous tutorial, we learned that a Major Scale is made of a pattern of Whole Steps and Half Steps in this order: