In music from

Western culture Western culture, also known as Western civilization, European civilization, Occidental culture, Western society, or simply the West, refers to the Cultural heritage, internally diverse culture of the Western world. The term "Western" encompas ...

, a seventh is a

musical interval In music theory, an interval is a difference in pitch (music), pitch between two sounds. An interval may be described as horizontal, linear, or melodic if it refers to successively sounding tones, such as two adjacent pitches in a melody, and v ...

encompassing seven

staff position In Western musical notation, the staff"staff" in the Collins English Di ...

s (see

Interval number In music theory, an interval is a difference in pitch between two sounds. An interval may be described as horizontal, linear, or melodic if it refers to successively sounding tones, such as two adjacent pitches in a melody, and vertical or har ...

for more details), and the major seventh is one of two commonly occurring sevenths. It is qualified as ''major'' because it is the larger of the two. The major seventh spans eleven

semitones A semitone, also called a minor second, half step, or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically. It is defined as the interval between t ...

, its smaller counterpart being the

minor seventh In music theory, a minor seventh is one of two musical intervals that span seven staff positions. It is ''minor'' because it is the smaller of the two sevenths, spanning ten semitones. The major seventh spans eleven. For example, the interval ...

, spanning ten semitones. For example, the interval from C to B is a major seventh, as the note B lies eleven semitones above C, and there are seven staff positions from C to B. Diminished and

augmented Augment or augmentation may refer to: Language *Augment (Indo-European), a syllable added to the beginning of the word in certain Indo-European languages * Augment (Bantu languages), a morpheme that is prefixed to the noun class prefix of nouns ...

sevenths span the same number of staff positions, but consist of a different number of semitones (nine and twelve). The easiest way to locate and identify the major seventh is from the octave rather than the

unison Unison (stylised as UNISON) is a Great Britain, British trade union. Along with Unite the Union, Unite, Unison is one of the two largest trade unions in the United Kingdom, with over 1.2 million members who work predominantly in public servic ...

, and it is suggested that one sings the octave first.Keith Wyatt, Carl Schroeder, Joe Elliott (2005). ''Ear Training for the Contemporary Musician'', p.69. . For example, the most commonly cited example of a melody featuring a major seventh is the tonic-octave-major seventh of the opening to " (Somewhere) Over the Rainbow". "Not many songwriters begin a melody with a major seventh interval; perhaps that's why there are few memorable examples."Neely, Blake (2009). ''Piano For Dummies'', p.201. . However, two songs provide exceptions to this generalisation:

Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became Standard (music), standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway the ...

's
"I love you" (1944)
opens with a descending major seventh and

Jesse Harris Jesse Harris (born October 24, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, producer, and guitarist. He has worked with Norah Jones, Melody Gardot, Madeleine Peyroux, and Lizz Wright. Early life and education Harris and his twin sister were born i ...

'
"Don't Know Why"
(made famous by

Norah Jones Norah Jones ( ; born Geethali Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She has won several awards for her music and, , has sold more than 53 million records worldwide. '' Billboard'' named her the top jazz artist of ...

in her 2002 debut album, ''Come Away with Me''), starts with an ascending one. In the refrain of "Bali Hai" in "South Pacific," the third tone ("Hai") is a major seventh to the first ("Ba-"). The major seventh occurs most commonly built on the root of major triads, resulting in the chord type also known as

major seventh chord In music, a major seventh chord is a seventh chord in which the third is a major third above the root and the seventh is a major seventh above the root. The major seventh chord, sometimes also called a ''Delta chord'', can be written as maj7, M7 ...

or major-major seventh chord: including I⁷ and IV⁷ in major. "Major seven chords add jazziness to a musical passage. Alone, a major seventh interval can sound ugly." A major seventh in

just intonation In music, just intonation or pure intonation is a musical tuning, tuning system in which the space between notes' frequency, frequencies (called interval (music), intervals) is a natural number, whole number ratio, ratio. Intervals spaced in thi ...

most often corresponds to a pitch ratio of 15:8 (); in 12-tone

equal temperament An equal temperament is a musical temperament or Musical tuning#Tuning systems, tuning system that approximates Just intonation, just intervals by dividing an octave (or other interval) into steps such that the ratio of the frequency, frequencie ...

, a major seventh is equal to eleven

semitone A semitone, also called a minor second, half step, or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically. It is defined as the interval between ...

s, or 1100 cents, about 12 cents wider than the 15:8 major seventh. In 24-tone equal temperament a supermajor seventh, semiaugmented seventh or, semidiminished octave, 23 quarter-tones, is 1150 cents (). The small major seventh is a ratio of 9:5, now identified as a just

. 35:18, or 1151.23 cents, is the ratio of the septimal semi-diminished octave. The 15:8 just major seventh occurs arises in the extended C major scale between C & B and F & E. The major seventh interval is considered one of the most

dissonant In music, consonance and dissonance are categorizations of simultaneous or successive sounds. Within the Western tradition, some listeners associate consonance with sweetness, pleasantness, and acceptability, and dissonance with harshness, unple ...

intervals after its

inversion Inversion or inversions may refer to: Arts * ''Inversion'' (artwork), a 2005 temporary sculpture in Houston, Texas * Inversion (music), a term with various meanings in music theory and musical set theory * ''Inversions'' (novel) by Iain M. Bank ...

the

minor second A semitone, also called a minor second, half step, or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically. It is defined as the interval between ...

. For this reason, its melodic use is infrequent in classical music. However, in the genial Gavotte from J.S. Bach’s Partita in E major for solo violin, a major seventh features both as a chord (bar 1) and as a melodic interval (bar 5): Another piece that makes more dramatic use of the major seventh is "The Hut on Fowl's Legs" from Mussorgsky's piano suite ''

Pictures at an Exhibition ''Pictures at an Exhibition'' is a piano suite in ten movements, plus a recurring and varied Promenade theme, written in 1874 by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky. It is a musical depiction of a tour of an exhibition of works by architect and ...

'' (1874). Another is the closing duet from

Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( ; ; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the province of Parma, to a family of moderate means, recei ...

's ''

Aida ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is a tragic opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 De ...

'', "O terra addio".Fleming, William and Veinus, Abraham (1958).
Understanding Music
', p.67. Holt. "Verdi's startling use of the rising major seventh in "O terra addio," the final duet of Aida,...creates an almost unbearable tension that perfectly expresses the infinite longing of the doomed lovers on the brink of eternity." During the early 20th century, the major seventh was used increasingly both as a melodic and a harmonic interval, particularly by composers of the

Second Viennese School The Second Viennese School () was the group of composers that comprised Arnold Schoenberg and his pupils, particularly Alban Berg and Anton Webern, and close associates in early 20th-century Vienna. Their music was initially characterized by late ...

. Anton

Webern Anton Webern (; 3 December 1883 – 15 September 1945) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and musicologist. His music was among the most radical of its milieu in its lyric poetry, lyrical, poetic concision and use of then novel atonality, aton ...

's
Variations for Piano, Op. 27
opens with a major seventh and the interval recurs frequently throughout the piece. Under equal temperament this interval is

enharmonic In music, two written notes have enharmonic equivalence if they produce the same pitch but are notated differently. Similarly, written intervals, chords, or key signatures are considered enharmonic if they represent identical pitches that ar ...

ally equivalent to a

diminished octave In music from Western culture, a diminished octave () is an Interval (music), interval produced by Diminution, narrowing a Octave, perfect octave by a chromatic semitone.Benward & Saker (2003). ''Music: In Theory and Practice, Vol. I'', p.54. . ...

(which has a similar musical use to the

augmented unison In modern Western tonality, tonal music theory an augmented unison or augmented prime is the interval (music), interval between two notes on the same staff position, or denoted by the same note letter, whose alterations cause them, in ordinary eq ...

). The

is however very common in jazz, especially 'cool' jazz, and has a characteristically soft and sweet sound: think of the first chord in "

The Girl from Ipanema "Garota de Ipanema" (), or "The Girl from Ipanema", is a Brazilian bossa nova and jazz song. It was a worldwide hit in the mid-1960s and won a Grammy for Record of the Year in 1965. It was written in 1962, with music by Antônio Carlos Jobim a ...

". The major seventh chord consists of the first, third, fifth and seventh degrees (notes) of the major scale. In the key of C, it comprises the notes C E G and B.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Major Seventh Major intervals Sevenths (music)

See also

References