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An augmented fifth is a musical interval that spans five scale
Musical scale

In music, a scale is a group of musical note collected in ascending and descending order that provides material for or is used to conveniently represent part or all of a musical work including melody and/or harmony....
 degrees and consists of eight semitones. The prefix "augmented" identifies it as being one semitone larger than the perfect fifth
Perfect fifth

The perfect fifth is the musical interval between a note and the note seven semitones above it on the musical scale. For example, the note G lies a perfect fifth above C; D is a perfect fifth above G, C is a perfect fifth above F, and so on....
. Its inversion
Inversion (music)

In music theory, the word inversion has several meanings. There are inverted chords, inverted melodies, inverted intervals, and inverted voices....
 is the diminished fourth
Diminished fourth

In music, a diminished fourth is an Interval that spans four diatonic scale degrees, and is narrower than a perfect fourth by a chromatic semitone....
, and its enharmonic
Enharmonic

In modern music and musical notation, an enharmonic equivalent is a note , interval , or key signature which is equivalence to some other note, interval, or key signature, but "spelled", or named, differently....
 equivalent is the minor sixth
Minor sixth

A minor sixth is the smaller of two commonly occurring musical intervals that span six diatonic scale degrees. The prefix 'minor' identifies it as being the smaller of the two ; its larger counterpart being a major sixth....
.

The augmented fifth has no diatonic occurrence, and only began to make an appearance, at the beginning of the common practice period
Common practice period

The common practice period, in the history of European art music , spanning the Baroque Music, Classical music era, and Romantic Music periods, lasted from about 1600 until about 1900....
 of music, as a consequence of composers seeking to strengthen the normally weak seventh degree when composing music in minor modes.

This was achieved by chromatically
Chromatic scale

The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve Pitch es, each a semitone or half step apart. "A chromatic scale is a diatonic scale consisting entirely of half-step interval ," having, "no tonic ," due to the symmetry or equal spacing of its tones....
 raising the seventh degree (or subtonic
Subtonic

In music, the subtonic is the lowered seventh degree of the Scale , as opposed to the leading-tone . For example, in the A minor scale , the subtonic is the note G ; and the subtonic chord uses the notes G, B, and D ....
) to match that of the unstable seventh degree (or leading tone) of the major mode (an increasingly widespread practice that led to the creation of a modified version of the minor scale
Minor scale

A minor scale in music theory is a diatonic scale with a third scale degree at an Interval of a minor third above the Tonic . While this definition encompasses Musical mode with the minor third, such as Dorian mode, the term may more usually refer only to the natural minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor scales, descri...
 known as the harmonic minor scale).

A consequence of this was that the interval between the minor mode's already lowered third degree (mediant
Mediant

In music, the mediant is the third degree of the diatonic Scale , being the "middle" note of the Tonic triad .In music theory, the mediant chord is symbolized by the Roman numeral III if it is major or iii if it is minor....
) and the newly raised seventh degree (leading note), previously a perfect fifth, had now been "augmented" by a semitone.

Another result of this practice was the appearance of the first augmented triad
Augmented triad

In music, an augmented triad is a triad consisting of two major thirds....
s, built on the same (mediant) degree, in place of the naturally occurring major chord.

As music became increasingly chromatic, the augmented fifth was used with correspondingly greater freedom and also became a common component of jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
 chords.






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An augmented fifth is a musical interval that spans five scale
Musical scale

In music, a scale is a group of musical note collected in ascending and descending order that provides material for or is used to conveniently represent part or all of a musical work including melody and/or harmony....
 degrees and consists of eight semitones. The prefix "augmented" identifies it as being one semitone larger than the perfect fifth
Perfect fifth

The perfect fifth is the musical interval between a note and the note seven semitones above it on the musical scale. For example, the note G lies a perfect fifth above C; D is a perfect fifth above G, C is a perfect fifth above F, and so on....
. Its inversion
Inversion (music)

In music theory, the word inversion has several meanings. There are inverted chords, inverted melodies, inverted intervals, and inverted voices....
 is the diminished fourth
Diminished fourth

In music, a diminished fourth is an Interval that spans four diatonic scale degrees, and is narrower than a perfect fourth by a chromatic semitone....
, and its enharmonic
Enharmonic

In modern music and musical notation, an enharmonic equivalent is a note , interval , or key signature which is equivalence to some other note, interval, or key signature, but "spelled", or named, differently....
 equivalent is the minor sixth
Minor sixth

A minor sixth is the smaller of two commonly occurring musical intervals that span six diatonic scale degrees. The prefix 'minor' identifies it as being the smaller of the two ; its larger counterpart being a major sixth....
.

The augmented fifth has no diatonic occurrence, and only began to make an appearance, at the beginning of the common practice period
Common practice period

The common practice period, in the history of European art music , spanning the Baroque Music, Classical music era, and Romantic Music periods, lasted from about 1600 until about 1900....
 of music, as a consequence of composers seeking to strengthen the normally weak seventh degree when composing music in minor modes.

This was achieved by chromatically
Chromatic scale

The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve Pitch es, each a semitone or half step apart. "A chromatic scale is a diatonic scale consisting entirely of half-step interval ," having, "no tonic ," due to the symmetry or equal spacing of its tones....
 raising the seventh degree (or subtonic
Subtonic

In music, the subtonic is the lowered seventh degree of the Scale , as opposed to the leading-tone . For example, in the A minor scale , the subtonic is the note G ; and the subtonic chord uses the notes G, B, and D ....
) to match that of the unstable seventh degree (or leading tone) of the major mode (an increasingly widespread practice that led to the creation of a modified version of the minor scale
Minor scale

A minor scale in music theory is a diatonic scale with a third scale degree at an Interval of a minor third above the Tonic . While this definition encompasses Musical mode with the minor third, such as Dorian mode, the term may more usually refer only to the natural minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor scales, descri...
 known as the harmonic minor scale).

A consequence of this was that the interval between the minor mode's already lowered third degree (mediant
Mediant

In music, the mediant is the third degree of the diatonic Scale , being the "middle" note of the Tonic triad .In music theory, the mediant chord is symbolized by the Roman numeral III if it is major or iii if it is minor....
) and the newly raised seventh degree (leading note), previously a perfect fifth, had now been "augmented" by a semitone.

Another result of this practice was the appearance of the first augmented triad
Augmented triad

In music, an augmented triad is a triad consisting of two major thirds....
s, built on the same (mediant) degree, in place of the naturally occurring major chord.

As music became increasingly chromatic, the augmented fifth was used with correspondingly greater freedom and also became a common component of jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
 chords. Near the end of the nineteenth century the augmented fifth became commonly used in a dominant chord. This would create an augmented dominant (or V) chord. The augmented fifth of the chord would then act as a leading tone to the third of the next chord. This augmented V chord would never precede a minor tonic (or i) chord since the augmented fifth of the dominant chord is identical to the third of the tonic chord.

In an equal tempered
Equal temperament

Equal temperament is a musical temperament, or a system of Musical tuning in which every pair of adjacent notes has an identical frequency ratios....
 tuning, an augmented fifth is equal to eight semitones, a ratio of 28/12:1 (approximately 1.587), or 800 cents
Cent (music)

The cent is a logarithmic scale unit of measure used for musical interval . Typically cents are used to measure extremely small intervals, or to compare the sizes of comparable intervals in different tuning systems, and in fact the interval of one cent is much too small to be heard between successive notes....
.

The augmented fifth is a context-dependent dissonance
Consonance and dissonance

In music, a consonance is a harmony, Chord , or interval considered stable, as opposed to a dissonance ? considered unstable . The strictest definition of consonance may be only those sounds which are pleasant, while the most general definition includes any sounds which are used freely....
. That is, when heard in certain contexts, such as that described above, the interval will sound dissonant. In other contexts, however, the same eight-semitone interval will simply be heard (and notated) as its consonant
Consonance and dissonance

In music, a consonance is a harmony, Chord , or interval considered stable, as opposed to a dissonance ? considered unstable . The strictest definition of consonance may be only those sounds which are pleasant, while the most general definition includes any sounds which are used freely....
 enharmonic equivalent, the minor sixth.

See also


  • List of meantone intervals
    List of meantone intervals

    The following is a list of intervals of meantone temperament. These intervals constitute the standard vocabulary of intervals for the Western common practice era....