# Minor third > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Minor_third > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Minor_third.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_third > Source revision: 1356946724 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Infobox | title = Minor third | headerstyle = background-color:palegoldenrod; color:inherit; | label1 = [Inverse](/source/Inversion_(music)) | data1 = [Major sixth](/source/Major_sixth) | header2 = Name | label3 = Other names | data3 = Sesquitone | label4 = Abbreviation | data4 = m3 | header5 = Tuning | label6 = [12 equal temperament](/source/12_equal_temperament) | data6 = 3 [semitone](/source/semitone)s (300 [cents](/source/Cent_(music))) | label7 = [Pythagorean tuning](/source/Pythagorean_tuning) | data7 = 32:27 (294 cents)Haluska, Jan (2003). ''The Mathematical Theory of Tone Systems'', p. xxiv. {{ISBN|0-8247-4714-3}}. 19th harmonic, overtone minor tone. | label8 = [5-limit tuning](/source/5-limit_tuning) | data8 = 6:5 (316 cents) | label9 = [7-limit tuning](/source/7-limit_tuning) | data9 = [7:6](/source/Septimal_minor_third) (267 cents) | label10 = [13-limit tuning](/source/13-limit_tuning) | data10 = 13:11 (289 cents) | label11 = [19-limit tuning](/source/19-limit_tuning) | data11 = 19:16 (298 cents) }} [[File:19th harmonic on C.png|thumb|19th harmonic (19:16), E19{{music|flat}}File:19th harmonic on C.mid|175x175px]] In [music theory](/source/music_theory), a '''minor third''' is a [musical interval](/source/interval_(music)) that encompasses three [half step](/source/half_step)s, or [semitone](/source/semitone)s. [Staff notation](/source/Staff_notation) represents the minor third as encompassing three [staff position](/source/staff_position)s (see: [interval number](/source/interval_(music))). The minor third is one of two commonly occurring thirds. It is called ''minor'' because it is the smaller of the two: the [major third](/source/major_third) spans an additional semitone. For example, the interval from A to C is a minor third, as the note C lies three semitones above A. : { \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c'' { \time 4/4 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 1 = 20 1 } } [Diminished](/source/Diminished_third) and [augmented third](/source/augmented_third)s span the same number of staff positions, but consist of a different number of semitones (two and five). The minor third is a [skip](/source/skip_(music)) melodically. The minor third is classed as an [imperfect consonance](/source/consonance_and_dissonance) and is considered one of the most consonant intervals after the [unison](/source/unison), [octave](/source/octave), [perfect fifth](/source/perfect_fifth), and [perfect fourth](/source/perfect_fourth). It may be derived from the [harmonic series](/source/Harmonic_series_(music)) as the interval between the fifth and sixth harmonics, or from the 19th [harmonic](/source/harmonic_series_(music)). The minor third is commonly used to express sadness in music, and research shows that this mirrors its use in speech, as a tone similar to a minor third is produced during sad speech.{{cite journal|author1=Curtis, M. E.|author2=Bharucha, J. J.|title=The minor third communicates sadness in speech, mirroring its use in music|journal=[Emotion](/source/Emotion_(journal))|volume=10|issue=3|pages=335–348|date=June 2010|pmid=20515223 |doi=10.1037/a0017928}} It is also a [quartal](/source/quartal_and_quintal_harmony) (based on an ascendance of one or more [perfect fourth](/source/perfect_fourth)s) tertian interval, as opposed to the [major third's](/source/major_third) quintality. The minor third is also obtainable in reference to a [fundamental note](/source/fundamental_(music)) from the [undertone series](/source/undertone_series), while the major third is obtainable as such from the [overtone series](/source/overtone_series). (See [Otonality and Utonality](/source/Otonality_and_Utonality).) The [minor scale](/source/minor_scale) is so named because of the presence of this interval between its [tonic](/source/tonic_(music)) and [mediant](/source/mediant) (1st and 3rd) [scale degrees](/source/scale_degrees). [Minor chord](/source/Minor_chord)s too take their name from the presence of this interval built on the chord's [root](/source/root_(chord)) (provided that the interval of a [perfect fifth](/source/perfect_fifth) from the root is also present or implied). The [sopranino saxophone](/source/sopranino_saxophone) and [E♭ clarinet](/source/E-flat_clarinet) sound in the [concert pitch](/source/concert_pitch) (C) a minor third higher than the written pitch; therefore, to get the sounding pitch one must [transpose](/source/transposition_(music)) the written pitch up a minor third. Instruments in A – most commonly the [A clarinet](/source/A_clarinet), sound a minor third lower than the written pitch. == In other tunings == {{Listen | header = | type = music | filename = Minor third on C.mid | title = Equal tempered | filename2 = Just minor third on C.mid | title2 = Just | filename4 = }} upright=1.3|thumb|Comparison, in cents, of intervals at or near a minor thirdA minor third, in [just intonation](/source/just_intonation), corresponds to a pitch ratio of 6:5 or 315.64 [cents](/source/cent_(music)). In an [equal tempered](/source/equal_tempered) tuning, a minor third is equal to three [semitone](/source/semitone)s, a ratio of 21/4:1 (about 1.189), or 300 cents, 15.64 cents narrower than the 6:5 ratio. In other [meantone](/source/meantone_temperament) tunings it is wider, and in [19 equal temperament](/source/19_equal_temperament) it is very nearly the 6:5 ratio of just intonation; in more complex [schismatic temperament](/source/schismatic_temperament)s, such as [53 equal temperament](/source/53_equal_temperament), the "minor third" is often significantly flat (being close to [Pythagorean tuning](/source/Pythagorean_tuning) ({{Audio|Pythagorean minor third on C.mid|play}})), although the "[augmented second](/source/augmented_second)" produced by such scales is often within ten cents of a pure 6:5 ratio. If a minor third is tuned in accordance with the fundamental of the [overtone series](/source/overtone_series), the result is a ratio of 19:16 or 297.51 cents (the nineteenth harmonic).Dowsett, Peter (2015). ''Audio Production Tips: Getting the Sound Right at the Source'', p. 3.6.3. CRC. {{ISBN|9781317614203}}. "The minor third, however, does not appear in the harmonic series until the nineteenth harmonic. Your ear almost expects to hear the major third ([on A:] C{{music|#}}), and when that is replaced with a more distantly related note, this makes the listener feel more 'unpleasant', 'tense', or 'sad'." The 12-TET minor third (300 cents) more closely approximates the nineteenth harmonic with only 2.49 cents error.[Alexander J. Ellis](/source/Alexander_John_Ellis) (translating [Hermann Helmholtz](/source/Hermann_von_Helmholtz)): ''On the Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music'', p. 455. Dover Publications, New York, 1954. "16:19...The 19th harmonic, ex. 297.513 [cents]". Later reprintings: {{ISBN|1-150-36602-8}} or {{ISBN|1-143-49451-2}}. M. Ergo mistakenly claimed that the nineteenth harmonic was the highest ever written, for the bass-trumpet in [Richard Wagner](/source/Richard_Wagner)'s ''[Der Ring des Nibelungen](/source/Der_Ring_des_Nibelungen)'' (1848–74), when [Robert Schumann](/source/Robert_Schumann)'s Op. 86 ''Konzertstück'' for 4 Horns and Orchestra (1849) features the [twentieth harmonic](/source/twentieth_harmonic) (four octaves and a major third above the fundamental) in the first horn part three times.[Prout, Ebenezer](/source/Ebenezer_Prout) (December 1, 1908). "[https://books.google.com/books?id=N_E2AQAAMAAJ&q=%22nineteenth+harmonic%22&pg=PA268 In the Forecourts of Instrumentation"], ''The Monthly Musical Record''. p. 268. Other pitch ratios are given related names, the [septimal minor third](/source/septimal_minor_third) with ratio 7:6 and the tridecimal minor third with ratio 13:11 in particular. === Pythagorean minor third === In [music theory](/source/music_theory), a ''semiditone'' (or ''Pythagorean minor third'')[John Fonville](/source/John_Fonville). "[Ben Johnston](/source/Ben_Johnston_(composer))'s Extended Just Intonation – A Guide for Interpreters", p. 124, ''[Perspectives of New Music](/source/Perspectives_of_New_Music)'', vol. 29, no. 2 (Summer 1991), pp. 106-137. is the [interval](/source/Interval_(music)) 32:27 (approximately 294.13 [cents](/source/Cent_(music))). It is the minor third in [Pythagorean tuning](/source/Pythagorean_tuning). It arises in [Ptolemy's intense diatonic scale](/source/Ptolemy's_intense_diatonic_scale) between the 2nd and 4th degrees (in the C [major scale](/source/major_scale), between D and F).[Paul, Oscar](/source/Oscar_Paul) (1885). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=4WEJAQAAMAAJ&q=musical+interval+%22pythagorean+major+third%22 A manual of harmony for use in music-schools and seminaries and for self-instruction]'', p. 165. [Theodore Baker](/source/Theodore_Baker), trans. G. Schirmer. {{audio|Pythagorean minor third in scale.mid|Play}} It can be thought of as two [octave](/source/octave)s minus three [justly tuned](/source/Just_intonation) [fifths](/source/Perfect_fifth). It is narrower than a justly tuned minor third by a [syntonic comma](/source/syntonic_comma). Its inversion is a [Pythagorean major sixth](/source/Pythagorean_major_sixth). {{Clear}} ==See also== * [Musical tuning](/source/Musical_tuning) * [List of meantone intervals](/source/List_of_meantone_intervals) * [Pythagorean interval](/source/Pythagorean_interval) ==References== {{reflist}} {{Intervals}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Minor Third}} Category:Minor intervals Category:Thirds (music) [ru:Терция (интервал)#Разновидности терции](/source/ru%3A%D0%A2%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%86%D0%B8%D1%8F_(%D0%B8%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BB)) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Minor third](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_third) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_third?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.