Someone please answer this pentationic question!

[Matthew Bryson]

Oh...and I also have a 4 1/2 year son! Lots of energy at that age, millions of questions, fun age.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

Originally posted by Creepy
I've got a question kind of along the lines of this discussion. - I'm trying to learn about intervals. After reading Jazzbo's intro to scale & chord theory article, As an exercise on 3rds I asked myself 'what is the major third of C#' At first I thought F, then I thought well, shouldn't it be some sort of E? - so E#, no doesn't exist...hmmm...maybe the question should have been what is the major third of Db'
Am I even making sense? Am I to far off topic for this thread? What is the major 3rd of C#.

You were right the second time; the answer is E#. Which does exist. When your starting place is a C, any kind of C, a 3rd up from it must be some kind of E, by definition.

BTW, "the major third of C#" is a bit vague in terms of intervals. Intervals can go up or down. A major 3rd up from C# is an E#, and a major 3rd *down* from C# is an A. I assume you meant the former. Or, to put it another way, E# is a major 3rd from C# if you're going up, but it's a minor 6th if you're going down. This isn't as weird as it sounds. Think of it like a circular clock face. Imagine C# is at 12, and E# is at, oh, 5, and let clockwise stand for up and counterclockwise for down. Clearly the distance between the two notes is different depending on which direction you're traveling around the circle.

On the other hand, you may have meant, what is the third degree of the C# major scale? Which is a slightly different question. The answer's the same, E#, but there's no up or down involved, because for this question it doesn't matter which of the many possible E#s you're thinking about, because any E# can be thought of as the third degree of the C# major scale.

 

[PhatBasstard]

Originally posted by Creepy
I've got a question kind of along the lines of this discussion. - I'm trying to learn about intervals. After reading Jazzbo's intro to scale & chord theory article, As an exercise on 3rds I asked myself 'what is the major third of C#' At first I thought F, then I thought well, shouldn't it be some sort of E? - so E#, no doesn't exist...hmmm...maybe the question should have been what is the major third of Db'
Am I even making sense? Am I to far off topic for this thread? What is the major 3rd of C#.

Enharmonic spelling, yes, E#. You know that note as F (same note) on the bass. Except that key (C#) would normally be written out as Db so enharmonically F would be the correct answer.