Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun music A musical interval of the Western twelve-semitone system consisting of four semitones and spanning three degrees of the diatonic scale. Major scales are so named because of the major third interval between the tonic and mediant of a major tonic triad. It is enharmonically equivalent to a diminished fourth.

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  • "A major third is one of two commonly occurring musical intervals that span three diatonic scale degrees, the other being the minor third. It is denoted 'major' because it is the larger of the two: the major third is a leap of four semitones, the minor third three. The major third is abbreviated M3; its inversion is the minor sixth." --Wikipedia

    July 21, 2009