On May 29, 5:26 pm, Danny Schorr <.@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> On Thu, 29 May 2008 17:53:06 -0400, "Tom K." <tkor...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:
>
> >"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".
>
> Ah - I see. Thanks, Tom, you're always helpful....
>
>
>
> >> 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??
>
> ... except when you propose conundrums that make my head spin.
>
> I guess I would need more context before proposing an answer.
>
> Danny
>
> >Tom K.
Its all in the perspective. I think in most cases that complete phrase
is "Scale steps and leaps". The key word that is "Scale" and this
implies that the steps would be the next note up the scale. This is
pretty obvious in most music that is written in the 7 note scales that
we use and take for granted. But as I see it, if there is a scale,
then the step wise motion wold be from one scale note to the next. In
the case of the C to C#, if the scale being used had these two notes
as part of the scale, (maybe in a diminished scale?) then they would
stepwise motion. If not, then it would be a chromatic step and the
next level of definitions would be entered. If you then change the
scale of reference to be the Chromatic scale, then it would still be a
step but this would also allow the next movement to D# to be a leap!
On the other side of the coin, if you were in a pentatonic scale then
on a CDE_GA_C pentaton, the E to G and the A to C would be steps as
they were the next closest note in the scale. (Thus avoiding the
endless loop!) And of course with scales like the Harmonic minor, the
b6 to 7 would be a scale step as well.
I believe that there are also scales in North Africa and the Middle
East that have scales that span more than one octave and have larger
steps at the lower end and they get smaller as the scale rises. The
same rules would apply.
So for me, if you know the scale, it is simple. If it follows from one
scale step to the next, then it is steps. If it skips a scale step,
then it is a leap.
LJS
|
