The or '''''diapente''''' (sometimes abbreviated '''P5''') is a musical interval which is responsible for the most
Consonant , or stable, harmony outside of the
Unison and
Octave . It is a valuable interval in chord structure, song development, and western tuning systems. The prefix '''perfect''' identifies it as belonging to the group of ''perfect intervals'' (
Perfect Fourth ,
Perfect Octave ) so called because of their extremely simple pitch relationships resulting in a high degree of
Consonance .
The perfect fifth is historically relevant because it is the first accepted harmony (besides the octave) of
Gregorian Chant , a very early formal style of musical composition. The perfect fifth occurs on the
Root of all
Major and
Minor chords (triads) and their
Extensions . It is one of three
Musical Interval s that span five
Diatonic Scale degrees; the others being the
Diminished Fifth , which is one
Chromatic Semitone smaller, and the
Augmented Fifth , which is one chromatic semitone larger. The
Solfege of the perfect fifth is "Do - Sol". A helpful way to recognize a perfect fifth is to hum the starting of ''
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star '', which is a familiar perfect fifth.
The perfect fifth is abbreviated as P5 and its inversion is the
Perfect Fourth .
In simple terms a perfect fifth can be played on a
Piano Keyboard by holding down two notes, one of which is the seventh note higher than the base note.
The perfect fifth is a basic element in the construction of major and minor triads, and because these chords occur frequently in much music, the perfect fifth interval occurs just as often. However, because many instruments contain a perfect fifth as an
Overtone , it is not unusual to omit the fifth of a chord (esp. in root position) since it is already present due to this overtone.
The perfect fifth is also present in
Seventh Chords as well as "tall tertian" harmonies (harmonies consisting of more than four tones stacked in thirds above the root). The presence of a perfect fifth can in fact soften the
Dissonant intervals of these chords, as in the
Major Seventh Chord in which the dissonance of a major seventh is softened by the presence of two perfect fifths.
One can also build chords by stacking fifths, yielding quintal harmonies. Such harmonies are present in more modern music, such as the music of
Paul Hindemith . This harmony also appears in
Stravinsky 's ''
The Rite Of Spring '' in the ''Dance of the Adolescents'' where four C
Trumpet s, a
Piccolo Trumpet , and one
Horn play a five-tone B-Flat quintal chord.
A , '''open fifth''' or '''empty fifth''' is a chord containing only a perfect fifth with no third. The closing chord of the
Kyrie in
Mozart 's
Requiem is an example of a piece ending on an empty fifth, though these "chords" are common in Christian
Sacred Harp singing and throughout
Rock Music , especially
Hard Rock ,
Metal , and
Punk Music , where overdriven or distorted guitar can make thirds sound muddy, and fast chord-based passages are made easier to play by combining the four most common guitar hand shapes into one. Rock musicians refer to them as '''
Power Chords ''' and often include octave doubling (i.e. their bass note is doubled one octave higher, e.g. F3-C4-F4).
An is sometimes used in .
A perfect fifth in , a perfect fifth is equal to seven
Semitone s, or 700 cents, about two
Cent s smaller than the just fifth.
The just perfect fifth, together with the
Octave , forms the basis of
Pythagorean Tuning . A flattened perfect fifth is likewise the basis for
Meantone tuning.
The
Circle Of Fifths is a model of
Pitch Space for the
Chromatic Scale (chromatic circle) which considers nearness not as adjacency but as the number of perfect fifths required to get from one note to another.
