If a major interval is lowered by a half step, what is the resulting quality?

If a major interval is lowered by a half step, what is the resulting quality?

• A. Minor intervals
• B. Major intervals
• C. Diminished intervals
• D. Augmented intervals

Answer: (A)

A major interval has a one-semitone gap above a minor interval for the same letter pair. When you lower a major interval by a half step, you reduce that gap by one more semitone, so the quality becomes minor. For example, a major third like C–E is four semitones apart; lowering E to Eb gives C–Eb, which is three semitones—a minor third. This pattern holds for other major intervals as well: lowering by one half step changes the quality from major to minor. If you lowered by two half steps, you’d reach diminished, but that’s not the scenario here.

A major interval has a one-semitone gap above a minor interval for the same letter pair. When you lower a major interval by a half step, you reduce that gap by one more semitone, so the quality becomes minor. For example, a major third like C–E is four semitones apart; lowering E to Eb gives C–Eb, which is three semitones—a minor third. This pattern holds for other major intervals as well: lowering by one half step changes the quality from major to minor. If you lowered by two half steps, you’d reach diminished, but that’s not the scenario here.