What is the difference between a skip and a leap?, Intervals Options

[CWC7]

Hello (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Can somebody please confirm if a skip is an interval of a third and a leap is an interval of a fourth or greater? I've read this on one website, whereas another has used skip and leap to mean the same thing and yet another has said a leap is an interval of a 5th or greater.

Please can someone clear up my confusion!

Many thanks

[sbhoa]

I'd say that both of those terms mean whatever you want them to mean.
To my piano beginners a skip is a 3rd because you skip a note and a step is a 2nd because it's the next note. I don't use the term 'leap'. One on my youngsters named a 4th a 'step-skip'.

[porilo]

Hello (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Can somebody please confirm if a skip is an interval of a third and a leap is an interval of a fourth or greater? I've read this on one website, whereas another has used skip and leap to mean the same thing and yet another has said a leap is an interval of a 5th or greater.

Please can someone clear up my confusion!

Many thanks

Yes, that is exactly what I was taught and is what I teach to my pupils. Skips are thirds and leaps are fourths or more. C major triad, for example, becomes skip+skip, and an arpeggio becomes skip+skip+leap. I've used that simple method, especially for young pupils, and have never had any problems.

[CWC7]

Thank you very much for your helpful replies. Much appreciated.

[owainsutton]

Yes, that is exactly what I was taught and is what I teach to my pupils. Skips are thirds and leaps are fourths or more. C major triad, for example, becomes skip+skip, and an arpeggio becomes skip+skip+leap. I've used that simple method, especially for young pupils, and have never had any problems.

I like this idea....especially that skips can evolve into major/minor thirds, with leaps becoming perfect intervals (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

To the OP: no, there's no firm answer, because they're not standard theoretical terms in the way that 'tone' or 'octave' are. Just be consistent in how you use them!

[kenm]

To the OP: no, there's no firm answer, because they're not standard theoretical terms in the way that 'tone' or 'octave' are. Just be consistent in how you use them!

"Step" and "skip" have consistent meanings within species counterpoint (see here). Steps are minor or major seconds; skips are anything larger. The term "leap" is not commonly used in this context, AFAIK.

[linda.ff]

To the OP: no, there's no firm answer, because they're not standard theoretical terms in the way that 'tone' or 'octave' are. Just be consistent in how you use them!

"Step" and "skip" have consistent meanings within species counterpoint (see here). Steps are minor or major seconds; skips are anything larger. The term "leap" is not commonly used in this context, AFAIK.

Yes, that's exactly how I do it, and I think most of the books I teach from. Seconds will always be steps, even when the name of the interval has been learnt, except of course if they're harmonic 2nds. 3rds will be skips, but once anything bigger has been introduced, they become 3rds and i no longer say skip. I teach early arpeggios by pinpoionting where the Big Bad Fourth comes and say all the rest are 3rds.

It's a pity the two words sound so alike. I have quite a few pupils with English as their second langiage and they do struggle with them.

[principal4]

You can leap into a skip (though I wouldnae advise it), but you can't skip into a leap (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)