the identification, construction and aural recognition of intervals, major and minor scales, and the diatonic modes used in performed and studied repertoire

What this dot point is asking

Music language is the part of VCE Music where you are expected to hear pitch material and name it accurately. Intervals, scales and modes are the building blocks. You need to identify them by eye on a stave, construct them from a given note, and recognise them by ear in the aural section of the examination.

Naming intervals

Every interval has two parts: a number and a quality. The number counts the letter names from the lower to the upper note inclusive, so C up to E is a third because you count C, D, E. The quality is fixed by counting semitones.

The reference intervals worth memorising in semitones are: minor second 1, major second 2, minor third 3, major third 4, perfect fourth 5, tritone 6, perfect fifth 7, minor sixth 8, major sixth 9, minor seventh 10, major seventh 11, octave 12. Lowering a major or perfect interval by a semitone makes it minor or diminished; raising it makes it augmented.

Major and minor scales

A major scale follows the pattern tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone. Starting on C this gives C D E F G A B C using only white notes, which is why C major has no sharps or flats.

Minor scales come in three forms you must distinguish. The natural minor lowers the third, sixth and seventh of the major scale. The harmonic minor raises the seventh to create a leading note, producing the distinctive augmented second between the sixth and seventh degrees. The melodic minor raises the sixth and seventh ascending, then reverts to natural minor descending.

The diatonic modes

The seven diatonic modes are the scales you get by starting the white-note collection on each successive degree. Each mode is a rotation of the major scale, so they all contain the same notes but a different tonic, which shifts where the semitones fall and changes the character.

• Ionian is the major scale (tone pattern as above), bright and stable.
• Dorian is a minor mode with a raised sixth, common in folk and jazz.
• Phrygian is minor with a lowered second, giving a dark Spanish flavour.
• Lydian is major with a raised fourth, floating and open.
• Mixolydian is major with a lowered seventh, the rock and blues mode.
• Aeolian is the natural minor scale.
• Locrian is minor with a lowered second and fifth, unstable and rarely a tonic.

The quickest way to recall a mode is to relate it to the nearest major or minor scale and note the one altered degree. Dorian is natural minor with a raised sixth; Mixolydian is major with a flat seventh.

Hearing them

Aural recognition is a separate skill from naming on paper. Sing or hum the interval against a reference you know: a perfect fifth sounds like the opening of a fanfare, a minor third sounds like the start of a lullaby. For scales, listen to where the semitones fall and whether the third sounds bright (major) or dark (minor). For modes, listen for the single colour note: the raised fourth of Lydian or the flat seventh of Mixolydian gives the mode away.

Practise by constructing every interval above a given note, writing out all three minor forms in several keys, and labelling modes from notated melodies. Once the pitch material is automatic, transcription, harmony and analysis all become faster because you are no longer working out the basics under time pressure.