Minor third in the context of "Violino piccolo"

In music, a step, or conjunct motion, is the difference in pitch between two consecutive notes of a musical scale. In other words, it is the interval between two consecutive scale degrees. Any larger interval is called a skip (also called a leap), or disjunct motion.

In the diatonic scale, a step is either a minor second (sometimes also called half step) or a major second (sometimes also called whole step), with all intervals of a minor third or larger being skips. For example, C to D (major second) is a step, whereas C to E (major third) is a skip.

A suspended chord (or sus chord) is a musical chord in which the (major or minor) third is omitted and replaced with a perfect fourth or a major second. The lack of a minor or a major third in the chord creates an open sound, while the dissonance between the fourth and fifth or second and root creates tension. When using popular-music symbols, they are indicated by the symbols "sus4" and "sus2". For example, the suspended fourth and second chords built on C (C–E–G), written as C and C, have pitches C–F-G and C–D-G, respectively.

Suspended fourth and second chords can be represented by the integer notation {0, 5, 7} and {0, 2, 7}, respectively.

In music theory, a third is a musical interval encompassing three staff positions (see Interval number for more details), and the major third (Play) is a third spanning four half steps or two whole steps. Along with the minor third, the major third is one of two commonly occurring thirds. It is described as major because it is the larger interval of the two: The major third spans four semitones, whereas the minor third only spans three. For example, the interval from C to E is a major third, as the note E lies four semitones above C, and there are three staff positions from C to E.

Diminished and augmented thirds are shown on the musical staff the same number of lines and spaces apart, but contain a different number of semitones in pitch (two and five).

In Western classical music theory, the minor scale refers to three scale patterns – the natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode), the harmonic minor scale, and the melodic minor scale (ascending or descending).

These scales contain all three notes of a minor triad: the root, a minor third (rather than the major third, as in a major triad or major scale), and a perfect fifth (rather than the diminished fifth, as in a diminished scale or half diminished scale).

In music theory, a minor chord is a chord that has a root, a minor third, and a perfect fifth. When a chord comprises only these three notes, it is called a minor triad. For example, the minor triad built on A, called an A minor triad, has pitches A–C–E:

In harmonic analysis and on lead sheets, a C minor chord can be notated as Cm, C−, Cmin, or simply the lowercase "c". A minor triad is represented by the integer notation {0, 3, 7}.

The oboe d'amore (Italian for 'love oboe'; (pronounced [ˈɔːboe daˈmoːre]), less commonly hautbois d'amour (French: [obwɑ damuʁ]), is a double reed woodwind musical instrument in the oboe family. Slightly larger than the oboe, it has a less assertive and a more tranquil and serene tone, and is considered the mezzo-soprano of the oboe family, between the oboe (soprano) and the cor anglais, or English horn, (alto). It is a transposing instrument, sounding a minor third lower than it is notated, i.e. in A, so it can also be known as a Mezzo-Soprano Oboe. The bell (called Liebesfuß) is pear-shaped and the instrument uses a crook or bocal, similar to but shorter than that of the cor anglais.

In the musical system of ancient Greece, an octave species (Greek: εἶδος τοῦ διὰ πασῶν, or σχῆμα τοῦ διὰ πασῶν) is a specific sequence of intervals within an octave. In Elementa harmonica, Aristoxenus classifies the species as three different genera, distinguished from each other by the largest intervals in each sequence: the diatonic, chromatic, and enharmonic genera, whose largest intervals are, respectively, a whole tone, a minor third, and a ditone; quarter tones and semitones complete the tetrachords.

The concept of octave species is very close to tonoi and akin to musical scale and mode, and was invoked in Medieval and Renaissance theory of Gregorian mode and Byzantine Octoechos.