Everything about Major Sixth totally explained
A
major sixth is the larger of two commonly occurring
musical intervals that span six
diatonic scale degrees. The prefix 'major' identifies it as being the larger of the two (by a
chromatic semitone); its smaller counterpart being a
minor sixth. The major 6th is abbreviated as
M6, and its
inversion is the
minor third. Its most common occurrence is between the
third and (upper)
root of
minor chords.
A major sixth in
just intonation most often corresponds to a pitch ratio of 5:3, while in 12-tone
equal temperament, a major sixth is equal to nine
semitones, or 900 cents, 15.641
cents higher than the 5:3 major sixth.
The major sixth is one of consonances of
common practice music, along with the
unison,
octave,
perfect fifth, major and minor thirds,
minor sixth and (sometimes) the
perfect fourth. In the common practice period, sixths were considered interesting and dynamic consonances along with their inverses the thirds, but in
medieval times they were considered dissonances unusable in a stable final sonority; however it should be noted that in that period they were tuned very sharp, to the
Pythagorean major sixth of 27/16. In
just intonation, the major sixth is classed as a consonance of the
5-limit.
A major sixth is also used in transposing music to
E flat instruments, like the
alto clarinet,
alto saxophone, E flat
tuba, trumpet and
horn (instrument) when in E flat as a written C sounds like E flat on those instruments.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Major Sixth'.
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