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That's a battle of pedantry that you lost a long time ago, and you will win it sometime after "begging the question" gets used correctly most of the time. It's

That's a battle of pedantry that you lost a long time ago, and you will win it sometime after "begging the question" gets used correctly most of the time. It's a good example of a picky use of language that adds nothing whatsoever to the understanding of the subject. "Interval" has connotations I didn't want, namely that it's the same no matter what degree of the scale you start on. I really did mean "I, III" specifically. As far as I know, there's no term in music for that, but "chord", namely a major I chord (only without the fifth) seems to fit what I wanted to say better than "interval" to me.

tumult 17y ago
why? that's the right term for it. it's not anywhere close to a major I chord without the fifth! never underestimate what other kinds of nerds you may encounter in the wild :]
- alextp 17y ago
  Technically it can be a major I chord even without the tonic (listen to some schoenberg, he likes to do this), it is just difficult to get right.
- WilliamLP 17y ago
  A major I chord without the fifth is two pitches, the first and third degrees of the major scale. That's what I meant. Why is that not anywhere close, or even not precisely the same? I did not mean a major third interval. They could have sung the correct interval, but the wrong pitches. For what I did mean, I do insist that in the limited terminology of music, chord is a better fit because it implies the pitch where interval doesn't. This necessitates terms like "Power Chord". Pedants are going to say this is wrong. (And oh yeah a Koala Bear isn't really a Bear either.) But it does get around a limitation of the language.
- Goladus 17y ago
  The fifth is hardly essential to achieve the sound of a major I chord. Fifths are omitted all the time in classical music to avoid parallel voice-leading.
Goladus 17y ago
Without more context it's really impossible to say whether that was a major I or not. It would be the only functional harmony in the entire pattern, so it seems unlikely it was a I. A pentatonic melody by itself doesn't infer much in the way of harmonic progression. The only reason we hear C# as tonic is because he starts there and emphasizes it with repetition and mini-cadences that are primarily rhythmic in nature. There aren't any IV or V chords available with those pitches (or iii or vii for that matter, you can imply a ii but not very well). I would actually argue that interval actually is the most accurate term in this case. (Not that I didn't understand what was meant by the term "chord" though, and certainly wouldn't have been bothered by it)

tumult 17y ago

why? that's the right term for it. it's not anywhere close to a major I chord without the fifth! never underestimate what other kinds of nerds you may encounter in the wild :]

alextp 17y ago
Technically it can be a major I chord even without the tonic (listen to some schoenberg, he likes to do this), it is just difficult to get right.
WilliamLP 17y ago
A major I chord without the fifth is two pitches, the first and third degrees of the major scale. That's what I meant. Why is that not anywhere close, or even not precisely the same? I did not mean a major third interval. They could have sung the correct interval, but the wrong pitches. For what I did mean, I do insist that in the limited terminology of music, chord is a better fit because it implies the pitch where interval doesn't. This necessitates terms like "Power Chord". Pedants are going to say this is wrong. (And oh yeah a Koala Bear isn't really a Bear either.) But it does get around a limitation of the language.
Goladus 17y ago
The fifth is hardly essential to achieve the sound of a major I chord. Fifths are omitted all the time in classical music to avoid parallel voice-leading.

Goladus 17y ago

Without more context it's really impossible to say whether that was a major I or not. It would be the only functional harmony in the entire pattern, so it seems unlikely it was a I. A pentatonic melody by itself doesn't infer much in the way of harmonic progression. The only reason we hear C# as tonic is because he starts there and emphasizes it with repetition and mini-cadences that are primarily rhythmic in nature. There aren't any IV or V chords available with those pitches (or iii or vii for that matter, you can imply a ii but not very well). I would actually argue that interval actually is the most accurate term in this case. (Not that I didn't understand what was meant by the term "chord" though, and certainly wouldn't have been bothered by it)