Octave. What it is? Basic concepts

One of the initial sections of musical notation and solfeggio is the study of intervals. There are seven of them. At the moment we are interested in the interval, called in music "octave". Its name comes from the Latin word "octo", which means "eight." Let us consider the basic concepts associated with this interval.

Octave: what is it?

In principle, the very meaning of the concept of an octave has several basic interpretations. This term is used to refer to the eighth step of the scale, the interval, the range of the natural scale, and the registers of notes (sounds) on the musical instrument.

Consider the interval octave. What is this in terms of solfeggio? These are two sounds that sound together, differing in height from sounding twice. If you give an example using a piano keyboard, this is, say, two identical note positions, one of which is the register above.

As the interval of the octave has three types: pure, enlarged and reduced. As a rule, music uses mostly a pure octave. It is designated as "h8".

The composition of the octave and the scale level

How else does the notion of "octave" be interpreted? What is it in the natural scale, it is easy to understand, if you look at the main notes and intervals that are included in it. As it is already clear, there are only eight notes in it, and the first and last notes coincide by the name, but differ in pitch. The octave notes for the simplest basic scale in C-MA are the following sequence: before, re, mi, fa, salt, la, si, before, or in the Latin notation - C, D, E, F, G, A, H, C.

Each sound in the octave (if viewed from the viewpoint of the sound range) is separated from the neighboring one by an interval, called a halftone. Two halftones form a tone. As it is already easy to see, the whole octave consists entirely of twelve halftones (this is clearly seen on the piano, where there are white and black keys).

Now a few more words about the octave interval. What is this in the sense of the interval for each particular gamma? Everything is very simple. This alternation of notes and the intervals formed between them, taking into account key signs and rules for constructing the basic types of scales (major and minor).

Any major scale is an alternation of intervals in a strict sequence, regardless of the signs in the key: tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone.

For minor scales there are rules. For a natural minor such a sequence is constructed as follows: tone, semitone, tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone. This is, so to speak, the basic sequences, because now the gamma types of harmonic or melodic type are not taken into account, let alone various frets or exotic oriental scales in which a quarter of a tone is taken as the basis of the construction.

Octave of voice and musical instruments

Now consider another application of what we call "octave" in music. What is this when applied to a musical instrument, you can understand, if you look, for example, on the piano. In fact, these are the same registers, separated by an equal distance up or down.

From a musical point of view, the classification of octaves is taken by the piano keyboard. The main are: subcontractive, ophthalmic, small octave, large octave and then from the first to the fifth (only nine). The first and last octaves are incomplete, since sounds below and above this range by the human ear are almost not perceived.

And more about the concept of "octave". What is this with respect to the human voice? It is clear, probably, that this is a certain range of sounds of different heights that a person can reproduce (sing).

How many octaves supports the voice of a person, depends only on the individual characteristics of the structure of the larynx and ligaments. According to statistics, in an ordinary person this range is one and a half to two octaves.

Naturally, if you are engaged in the development of vocal data, you can achieve a significant expansion of its capabilities. Today, you can meet many professional vocalists, whose range can reach four or five octaves. Do not go far. Take at least such a famous artist as King Diamond. His voice range is four and a half octaves.

It is not surprising that in his gloomy creations he easily jumps from low to high sound and moreover performs the parts of all the characters of his mini-operas (no matter who owns this party, a man, a woman, an old woman, a child or a ghost in the form of a monster) . What is most interesting, the recording does not use special corrective devices of the type that were used to sound the singer in the film "The Fifth Element." There, the vocal is only half natural, the rest is a synthesized sound.

The use of an octave in music

In musical terms, the octave as an interval is used quite often. Unlike a single clean, lonely sounding note, the second upper or lower sound adds fresh colors. It is no coincidence that initially for guitarists, in addition to standard lotions, special devices, called octavers, were developed.

They won great popularity among many performers. For example, very often they are used such fame as Brian May, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Wai and many others.