Question On Intervals From M. Levine's Book

[medic2022]

Hello all! I have a question on intervals. I recently bought Mark Levine's book Jazz Theory. I'm a little confused on page 5 asending and decending minor 3rds. He states that A to C is a minor 3rd interval in the first Charlie Parker Example "Confirmation". The overall Key of the tune is F as there is a Bb. Not sure how he came up with that?

I'm new to theory and Jazz Guitar, hope this wasn't a stupid question.


Tommy

[bako]

A Bb B C------------Minor 3rd
A Bb B C C#--------Major 3rd

Anything spelled as a 3rd will come from the following combinations of letters

A---C
B---D
C---E
D---F
E---G
F---A
G---B

Flats and sharps modify what kind of third each one is.

Minor 3rds
AC//BbDb//BD//CEb//C#E//DF//EbGb//EG//FAb//F#A//GBb//AbCb//

Major 3rds
AC#//BbD//BD#//CE//DbF//DF#//EbG//EG#//FA//F#A#//GB//AbC//

There are some alternative spellings called enharmonic
ex: F#A#=GbBb or DbF=C#E# etc.

[Meggy]

It might be a bit confusing as he is not starting the interval from the root of the key i.e. from an F. The key will indeed be F major, but some notes from the F major scale will still form a minor 3rd interval, such as A to C, as he states. Don't confuse minor and major interval types with minor or major scales - they are not the same thing. The terminology may seem a bit confusing at first I guess but it makes sense in the end, honest!

[GuyB]

I think Meggy is right in not confusing scales and intervals. A minor interval is made of one and a half step. So A to C in the key of F is A-Bb-C : one and a half step. And A to C in the key of C is A-B-C : still one and a half step.

[Reg]

Originally Posted by medic2022

Hello all! I have a question on intervals. I recently bought Mark Levine's book Jazz Theory. I'm a little confused on page 5 asending and decending minor 3rds. He states that A to C is a minor 3rd interval in the first Charlie Parker Example "Confirmation". The overall Key of the tune is F as there is a Bb. Not sure how he came up with that?

I'm new to theory and Jazz Guitar, hope this wasn't a stupid question.


Tommy

Hey Tommy Intervals are simply the distance in Pitch between two notes. Pitch is determined by its frequency, number of vibrations per second. Technically the actual interval is determined by the ratio between the two frequencies, ( notes), not the difference. Anyway, you really don't need to know all the details except that; what's between the two noted doesn't make any difference, A minor 3rd is a minor 3rd. It gets easier...Reg