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interval

The distance between two notes, counted in semitones and heard as a flavor.

The distance between two notes, counted in semitones and heard as a specific flavor. Intervals, not the notes themselves, are what your ear tracks: move a whole melody up five semitones and it is still the same tune, because every interval survived. A chord is just a stack of intervals.

Learn it: Intervals

The one-sentence definition at the top is the same one the Theory Aide extension shows as a tooltip inside Ableton Live. Hover any dotted term for its own.