Press Up to hear a minor third, then try the quiz!
Intervals · m3 ·
Minor third
A minor third is three semitones, the distance from C up to E♭. It opens "Greensleeves," from A up to C.
Listen: C4 and E♭4
Quiz
Wormy plays one of these, up or down, from a different note each time. Can you tell which: major second, minor third, major third?
What it sounds like
Three keys apart, the minor third sounds tender and a little wistful. Sung downward, it is the sound of a child calling a friend’s name across the yard.
In music theory
La up to do is a minor third, and so is the bottom of every minor chord. Sol down to mi, often the first interval children sing, is one too.
Where you've heard it
- Greensleeves: the first two notes, "A-las", going up.Traditional. Traditional English ballad, registered in London in 1580.
- Brahms's Lullaby: the third note, up from the repeated pair, going up.Published 1868. Johannes Brahms, "Wiegenlied," Op. 49 No. 4 (Berlin: N. Simrock, 1868).
- Rain, Rain, Go Away: "rain" down to "go," sol down to mi, going down.Traditional. Traditional English nursery rhyme.
Every tune named here is public domain in the US or traditional. Wormy names the spot; it never plays the song.