Augmented second

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Augmented second

An augmented second is enharmonically equivalent to a minor third

Minor third

A minor third is a Interval of three semitones. It is the smaller of two commonly occurring musical intervals compounded of two steps of the diatonic scale....
in equal temperament

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....
, but is not the same interval in other meantone tunings. In any tuning close to 1/4 comma meantone it will be close to the 7:6 ratio of the septimal minor third

Septimal minor third

In music, the septimal minor third , also called the subminor third is the musical interval exactly or approximately equal to a 7/6 ratio of frequencies....
. Hence the distinction is not, as often thought and even taught, a purely formal and contextual one, but reflects the tuning practice of much of the common practice period

Common practice period

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An augmented second is enharmonically equivalent to a minor third

Minor third

A minor third is a Interval of three semitones. It is the smaller of two commonly occurring musical intervals compounded of two steps of the diatonic scale....
in equal temperament

Equal temperament

Septimal minor third

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....
.

Augmented seconds occur in many scales, most importantly the harmonic minor and its various modes. They also occur in the various "gypsy minor" scales (which consist almost entirely of augmented and minor seconds). In harmonic minor scales, the augmented second occurs between the sixth and seventh scale degrees. For example, in the scale of A harmonic minor, the notes F and G# form the interval of an augmented second. This distinguishing feature of harmonic minor scales occurs as a consequence of the seventh scale degree having been chromatically raised in order to allow chords

Chord (music)

In music and music theory a chord is a set of two or more different note that sound simultaneously. Most often, in European-influenced music, chords are tertian Sonority that can be constructed as stacks of thirds relative to some underlying musical scale....
in a minor key to follow the same rules of cadence

Cadence

Cadence may refer to:In music:*Cadence , a melodic configuration or series of chords marking the end of a phrase, section, or piece of music...
observed in major keys, where the V chord is "dominant" (that is, contains a major triad plus a minor seventh
Minor seventh

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