Submajor and supraminor
- "Submajor" redirects here. For the regular temperament, see Submajor (temperament).
Submajor intervals are between standard major and neutral intervals, and likewise, supraminor (sometimes also superminor) is an interval quality used to describe intervals wider than minor, but narrower than neutral. For example, submajor thirds are found between about 361 and 375 cents, and supraminor thirds are found between about 327 and 341 cents.
Submajor and supraminor intervals are hard to find as just intervals (partially due to the range of supraminor sixths corresponding to acoustic phi), and do not correspond cleanly to any subgroup of JI. However, here are some examples of just submajor and supraminor intervals:
- 14/13 (128c), supraminor second
- 11/10 (165c), submajor second
- 17/14 (336c), supraminor third
- 26/21 (370c), submajor third
- 21/13 (830c), supraminor sixth
- 28/17 (864c), submajor sixth
- 20/11 (1035c), supraminor seventh
- 13/7 (1072c), submajor seventh
Submajor and supraminor intervals are found in flatly tuned diatonic scales, such as where the fifth is tuned to around 691 cents. For a given neutral interval k in cents, submajor ranges from roughly k+10 to k+24 cents, and supraminor ranges from roughly k-24 to k-10 cents. For example, submajor seconds are found between about 157 to 171 cents, containing the lower range of the "equable heptatonic" region defined by Margo Schulter.
Terminology
While "superminor" is more consistent with the analogous "supermajor", it is more likely to be interpreted as "more minor", therefore implying intervals narrower than minor, whereas such intervals are rather called subminor. This may be caused by the common use of "super" in English both as an adverb and a prefix, leading to a possible parsing of the term as "super major", while "supra" is only used as a prefix. Nonetheless, since both Latin prefixes are equivalent in meaning, both terms are technically correct and are interchangeable.
The term "supraminor" has been used regularly by many people, including Manuel Op de Coul[1], John Chalmers[2], Dave Keenan[3], Margo Schulter[4] and Deja Igliashon[5]. As of January 19th, 2025, the term "supraminor" has 660 more occurrences on XA Discord compared to "superminor".
References
- ↑ Op de Coul, Manuel. Stichting Huygens-Fokker: List of intervals.
- ↑ Chalmers, John. Divisions of the Tetrachord. 1993.
- ↑ Keenan, Dave. A note on the naming of musical intervals. 1999, updated 2001.
- ↑ Schulter, Margo. Regions of the Interval Spectrum. 2010.
- ↑ Extra-Diatonic Intervals
| View • Talk • EditInterval classification | |
|---|---|
| Seconds and thirds | Unison • Comma and diesis • Semitone • Neutral second • Major second • (Interseptimal second-third) • Minor third • Neutral third • Major third |
| Fourths and fifths | (Interseptimal third-fourth) • Perfect fourth • Superfourth • Tritone • Subfifth • Perfect fifth • (Interseptimal fifth-sixth) |
| Sixths and sevenths | Minor sixth • Neutral sixth • Major sixth • (Interseptimal sixth-seventh) • Minor seventh • Neutral seventh • Major seventh • Octave |
| Diatonic qualities | Diminished • Minor • Perfect • Major • Augmented |
| Tuning ranges | Neutral (interval quality) • Submajor and supraminor • Pental major and minor • Novamajor and novaminor • Neogothic major and minor • Supermajor and subminor • Ultramajor and inframinor |