Interval class

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Interval class

Generic and specific intervals

Interval class is used in the following ways:

1. First, common in academic set theory, defines it as the octave-equivalent distance between two pitch classes, measured by the shortest distance. Thus C to G may be the interval of 7, but its interval class is 5. The largest interval class or "ic" – in 12edo – is the tritone (6). This may be criticized on the grounds that it is less useful and less generalizable than the second definition.
2. The second definition, used for example by Scala, defines the interval class, or the generic interval, as the set of all specific intervals (interval qualities) at a certain number of scale steps apart. More formally, an interval class is the set of all intervals that occur in the scale as k-step intervals, or k-steps, for a specific fixed integer k. For example, the interval class of 2-steps in the diatonic scale (5L 2s) is the set {2L, L + s} = {major third, minor third}.

See also

• Interval size measure
• Interval region
• Functional systems