music theory Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "Elements of music, ...

, a minor seventh is one of two

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 ...

s that span seven

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

s. It is ''minor'' because it is the smaller of the two sevenths, spanning ten

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. The

major seventh In music from Western culture, a seventh is a interval (music), musical interval encompassing seven staff positions (see Interval (music)#Number, Interval number for more details), and the major seventh is one of two commonly occurring sevenths. ...

spans eleven. For example, the interval from A to G is a minor seventh, as the note G lies ten semitones above A, and there are seven staff positions from A to G. 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, respectively).

Use

Minor seventh intervals rarely feature in melodies (and especially in their openings) but occur more often than major sevenths. A well-known example, in part due to its frequent use in theory classes, is found between the first two words of the phrase "There's a place for us" in the song "

Somewhere Somewhere may refer to: Music Albums * ''Somewhere'' (Eva Cassidy album) or the title song, 2008 * ''Somewhere'' (Keith Jarrett album), 2013 * '' Somewhere – The Songs of Sondheim and Bernstein'', by Marina Prior, 1994 * ''Somewhere'', or ...

" in ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a Musical theatre, musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a Book (musical theatre), book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo an ...

''. Another well-known example occurs between the first two notes of the introduction to the main theme music from '' Star Trek: The Original Series''

theme Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical appearance for certain software. * Theme (linguistics), topic * Theme ( ...

. The most common occurrence of the minor seventh is built on the

root In vascular plants, the roots are the plant organ, organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often bel ...

of the prevailing key's dominant

triad Triad or triade may refer to: * a group of three Humanities * Trichotomy (philosophy), often called triads * Triad (sociology), a group of three people as a unit of study * Triad (relationship), or ''ménage à trois'' Music * Triad (music ...

, producing the all-important

dominant seventh chord Domination or dominant may refer to: Society * World domination, structure where one dominant power governs the planet * Colonialism in which one group (usually a nation) invades another region for material gain or to eliminate competition * Ch ...

. During the ''

common practice period In Western classical music, the common practice period (CPP) was the period of about 250 years during which the tonal system was regarded as the only basis for composition. It began when composers' use of the tonal system had clearly supersede ...

'' the minor seventh was prescribed as a dissonance, requiring resolution to a consonance.

In other temperaments

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 ...

there is both a 16:9 "''lesser'' just minor seventh", also called the "Pythagorean small minor seventh", () equivalent to two perfect fourths stacked on top of each other, and 9:5, called the "''greater'' just minor seventh" () equivalent to a perfect fifth and a minor third on top of each other. An interval close in frequency is the

harmonic seventh The harmonic seventh interval, also known as the septimal minor seventh, or subminor seventh, is one with an exact 7:4 ratio (about 969 cent (music), cents). This is about 32 cents narrower, with a more stable and consonant sound, than a ...

. ()

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minor Seventh Minor intervals Sevenths (music) no:Liten septim

Use

In other temperaments

See also

References