Press Up to hear an octave, then try the quiz!
Intervals · P8 ·
Octave
An octave is twelve semitones, the distance from C up to the next C. It is the first leap in "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," on "Take me."
Listen: C4 and C5
Quiz
Wormy plays one of these, up or down, from a different note each time. Can you tell which: minor seventh, major seventh, octave?
What it sounds like
Twelve keys apart: the same note, higher. It is so pure that the two notes sound like one, only brighter.
In music theory
Do up to the next do. The higher note vibrates exactly twice as fast, which is why it shares the name. When men and women sing the same tune together, they are usually an octave apart.
Where you've heard it
- Take Me Out to the Ball Game: "Take me," up an octave, going up.Published 1908. Music by Albert Von Tilzer, words by Jack Norworth (New York: York Music Co., 1908).
Every tune named here is public domain in the US or traditional. Wormy names the spot; it never plays the song.