Excessively

The adjective excessive (opposite: diminished ) is used in music to denote certain intervals and chords .

Excessive intervals

Intervals are called excessive if they are a chromatic semitone larger than the pure intervals ( prime , fourth , fifth , octave ) or as the major forms of second , third , sixth , seventh .

Excessive intervals - with the exception of the excessive fourth ( tritone ) - can be confused with diatonic intervals completely enharmonically if the tuning is equal ; in just intonation this a minor change is pitch required.

Examples:

• the (pure) fifth c – g becomes the excessive fifth c – g sharp.   (sounding in equal tuning like the minor sixth c-a flat.)
• the (pure) prime c – c becomes the excessive prime c – cis.   (Sounding in equal tuning like the small second c-des.)
• the major third c – e becomes the excessive third c – eis.   (sounding in equal tuning like the (pure) fourth cf.)

The complementary intervals (reversal intervals) of the excessive intervals are decreased; z. B. the excessive fourth (f – h) is supplemented by the diminished fifth (b – f) to form an octave.

Excessive chords

Some chords are also called excessively . However, a general rule for this designation cannot be established; in particular, the inclusion of an excessive interval does not necessarily lead to the designation of the chord as “excessive”.

So contains z. B. the sixth chord  dfh the excessive fourth fh. Even so, it is not called “excessive” because it differs from the excessive sixth chord , which contains an excessive sixth (such an excessive sixth chord would be created by a low alteration of the d: db-fh); instead, the sixth chord dfh is called "diminished" because it is an inversion of the diminished triad Hdf.

Examples of excessive chords (for the sake of simplicity each built on the bass note  c):

• excessive triad (ce-gis)
• excessive sixth chord (ce-a sharp)
• excessive fifth sixth chord (ceg-a sharp)
• excessive third fourth chord (ce-f sharp-a sharp).

The following example shows (in the chord symbols of Jazzharmonik ) a dominant with a fifth which is excessively altered by a semitone up or: E ♭ ^{7 ♯ 5} or E ♭ ^{7 + 5}

literature

• Excessively. In: Marc Honegger, Günther Massenkeil (ed.): The great lexicon of music. Volume 8: Štich - Zylis-Gara. Updated special edition. Herder, Freiburg (Breisgau) et al. 1987, ISBN 3-451-20948-9 , p. 204.
• Excessively. In: Willibald Gurlitt , Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht (Ed.): Riemann Music Lexicon. Material part. 12th, completely revised edition. B. Schott's Sons, Mainz 1967, p. 1005.
• Reinhard Amon: Lexicon of harmony. Reference work on major minor harmony with analysis codes for functions, levels and jazz chords . 2nd, completely revised and expanded edition. Doblinger et al., Vienna et al. 2015, ISBN 978-3-902667-56-4 .