I'm trying to name the interval Eb-B#. We know that E-B is a perfect fifth. And by taking Eb-B, it becomes an augmented fifth. But what about Eb-B#? I cannot find a suitable name for this one.
Thank you in advance!
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1Eb-C would be a major 6th, so C# would be an augmented 6th – jjmusicnotes Aug 02 '20 at 10:52
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I am interested in Eb-B#. It was my fault mentioning the other one. – Francesco T. Aug 02 '20 at 12:04
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Highly related https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/99339/is-b%e2%99%af-to-f-an-impossible-interval. – Dom Aug 03 '20 at 00:20
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Also related https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/102242/double-augmented-4th/ – Carmeister Aug 03 '20 at 01:16
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I would say Eb - B# is a doubly augmented fifth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interval_(music)#Example
The letter name distance says it's a fifth: E - F - G - A - B, five different letter names (staff positions).
You probably already knew this, but just for future readers: what you call the interval depends on what you call the notes. As you can see from the tables on the Wikipedia page, the proper name for an interval isn't unambiguously defined by the semitone distance alone. (Except if you call your interval by the number of semitones.)
In the interval naming convention, the presence of a diatonic scale with letter-named staff positions is assumed. Five positions means it's a "fifth".
In case there's a key signature, you take that into account, but still, the distance in staff positions decides if the interval is called a fourth, fifth, sixth, etc. In this example, the key signature declares that by default, B notes are flat.
...and for someone who doesn't know how the staff and accidentals i.e. natural/sharp/flat work, a couple more pictures. The pitch of each staff position can be modified with accidentals, which are sort of like three-position switches (not caring about rare cases like double-sharps/flats):
What's happened in the example case is, an E has been made flat and a B has been made sharp:
On a piano keyboard you would play the B# note with the same key as you'd use for C, but since it was called a B# and not a C by the person who wrote the notation, you take it as a B# and name the interval accordingly.
piiperi Reinstate Monica
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Start with the letter names - E-F-G-A-B. That's going to be a 5th - of some sort.
Drop the E down a semitone, the interval's an augmented fifth. If, instead, the B goes up a semitone, that's also an augmented fifth. So, by dropping E to E♭, and taking B to B♯, it's a double augmented fifth interval.
Which sounds exactly like a far more common major 6th.
Tim
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