The Devil's Interval

What Is It?

The Tritone: The Devil’s Interval? - TWO MINUTE MUSIC THEORY

Also know as the Devil’s Triad and diabolus in musica, the Devil’s Interval is a flatted or diminished fifth, or an augmented fourth. It is an interval, two pitches being played at the same time, with the prefix “tri” referring to the three whole steps between the two notes. It is directly between the perfect fourth and fifth and therefore divides the octave into two halves. When played, the tritone is very dissonant, meaning it clashes and sounds unresolved. Tritones are also used harmonically in dominant chords. Dominant chords are usually used in jazz music.  

You can create tritones buy counting up from the root note 3 whole steps or 6 half steps. For example, if you start at B you would go B - C - C# - D - D# - E - F 

List of Tritones:

1. A & D#/Eb
2. A#/Bb & E
3. B & F
4. C & F#/Gb
5. C#/Db & G
6. D & Ab/G#

Tritones for Beginners - Lesson 1

The History of Tritones

The notorious “tritone”, once commonly know of the Devil’s interval has had — to say the least — an interesting musical past. During the middle ages, the dissonance of the tritone lead to the belief that it was a devilish interval. Thus is became known as “Diabolus in Musica, or Devil in Music, and [was] expressly forbidden under Church canon law.” (Merrick). The reputation lingered and lingered well into the 18th and 19th century. Still to this day, the tritone is avoided in Catholic sacred music. In a 2006 BBC news article, Finlo Rohrer writes that “Professor John Deathridge, King Edward professor of music at King's College London, says the tritone had been consistently linked to evil. In medieval theology you have to have some way of presenting the devil. Or if someone  in the Roman Catholic Church wanted to portray the crucifixion, it is sometimes used there.”

By the 19th century, composers such as Richard Wagner had taken a tritone, minor 2nd  and a diminished 9th, and put it in an entire chord, to be known as the Tristan chord. This became a turning point in music as the chord is perhaps the demonic to date. In other words, the associations with tritones may still exist but they are no longer banned and used commonly in music. The piece below is an example of Wagner’s piece and his Tristan chord.

To prove the associations with the interval still exist, a satirical article published about Ted Cruz tells his plans to ban the interval, and some. For some entertainment, please read! 

http://www.submediant.com/2016/03/15/citing-evangelical-faith-ted-cruz-calls-to-ban-satanic-tritone/

Modern Usage

There are many uses of tritones in modern music, but it is just difficult to pinpoint them out. The tritone gives off this eerie, spooky, creepy feeling in music. It is more commonly found in rock, alternative, and punk, but there are other examples in other genres such as classical and jazz. There are even songs in soundtracks like "Maria" from "West Side Story," "The Simpsons," and "South Park."

For the hard rock and metal fans, Black Sabbath’s song “Black Sabbath” is an entire song revolving around tritones. If there ever was song that exhibits the effects of tritones, it would be this song which has a very creepy overall feel. In the sprit of October, and Halloween just around the corner, this is a great song to add to a holiday themed playlist. 

Here is a list of songs that use tritones:  https://www.uberchord.com/blog/tritone-songs/#Operas-Musicals

The list above tells of different genres tritones are found in. It includes classical, which not what we consider modern in present time.

In modern music that uses tritones, the triton always resolves up to the 5^th or down to the 4^th. Humans usually look for that consonance, so we resolve up or down to make it feel correct. For example, usually the leading tone, or the seventh, will resolve back to the tonic, or in our cases “do”. In other cases, it gives that eerie or creepy feeling that the composer is trying to convey, or it creates a dissonance that just sounds correct, even though to those who have perfect pitch, it feels like screaming in their ears. 

Sources

"A Brief History of the Devil's Tritone." Mental Floss. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2016. <http://mentalfloss.com/article/77321/brief-history-devils-tritone>.

Homecookedblues. "Tritones for Beginners - Lesson 1." YouTube. YouTube, 22 Aug. 2011. Web. 08 Oct. 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u9laoGPB_o>.

Odansmith. "The Tristan Chord." YouTube. YouTube, 19 Aug. 2012. Web. 09 Oct. 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpWg_cZkDho>.

OfficialSabbath. "Black Sabbath - "Black Sabbath"" YouTube. YouTube, 29 Oct. 2014. Web. 09 Oct. 2016.

Schoen-Philbert, Jonas. "25 Songs With The Tritone." Uberchord App Comments. Uberchord, 09 Sept. 2016. Web. 08 Oct. 2016. <https://www.uberchord.com/blog/tritone-songs/#Classical>.

Schoen-Philbert, Jonas. "The Tritone, Everything You Need to Know." Uberchord App The Tritone Everything You Need to Know Comments. Uberchord, 09 Sept. 2016. Web. 08 Oct. 2016. <https://www.uberchord.com/blog/the-tritone/>.

The1564studios. "The Tritone: The Devil's Interval? - TWO MINUTE MUSIC THEORY." YouTube. YouTube, 17 Feb. 2016. Web. 08 Oct. 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKF-j_3gTKA>.

Credits

Jonna: What is it? Essay, Proofreading
Chase: The History Essay, Bibliography
Kailee: Modern Usage Essay, Build Blog/Post