Re: Melodies move by step in any form of music?

"Danny Schorr" <.@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
news:e41u34dmfg7nr00rb8tdtni6h1n8uplukq@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> On Thu, 29 May 2008 08:17:39 GMT, Danny Schorr <.@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>>When does an interval become a leap?
>>
>>When a melody moves by an interval greater than a whole step.
>
> This is not exactly correct. If we flat the 6th degree and raise the
> seventh degree, we have an interval of a minor third, yet we are still
> going by step and not by leap.

Danny this isn't a minor 3rd, it is an augmented 2nd (the two are 
enharmonically equivalent, so the name is dependent on the note spelling)
- 
so if you are defining stepwise as "any second", then it qualifies.  IMHO,

however, I'd put any 3 semi-tone interval or larger in the category of 
"leap", be it notated as an Aug. 2nd or Min. 3rd.  Especially since the 
conjunct-disjunct melody "rules" come out of styles which considered the 
Aug. 2nd to be relatively difficult to sing and therefore, to be avoided
in 
vocal music.

> Likewise, If we play an A minor pentatonic
> scale, ACDEG, are we leaping from the A to the C, or from the E to the
G?

Yep - one reason the pentatonic is sometimes called a "Gapped Scale".

> We would be if we were playing a subset of the A minor scale, but it
> doesn't seem to be the case for pentatonics.
>
> ( If one proposed a "rule" that all leaps be followed by a scale step in
> the opposite direction, for the A pentatonic, one would be caught in an
> infinite loop between A and C).

Ah, but like other musical "rules", this one would have exceptions ;-)

> So I'm not exactly 100% certain in all cases when a step becomes a leap.

Neither am I, but as stated above, I vote for anything larger than 2 
semi-tones.

Now is an Aug. Prime such as  C-C# stepwise motion?

And what about a diminished 2nd such as C#-Db??

Tom K.