Distance playground · Level 1

The sound of distance

Pick a tonic. Pick a second note. Hear them together. See where the second note sits on the gradient. The further the dot drifts from the center, the more the music feels like it's reaching away from home. After enough pairs, your ear will start to predict what the shape will look like before the dot appears.

Tonic
6122040721201̂♭2̂2̂♭3̂3̂4̂♯4̂5̂♭6̂6̂♭7̂7̂1̂C
Click a scale degree below to hear it against the tonic and feel the distance.
Pick a note to compare
ordered left → right by consonance (closest to home → farthest)

How to practice

1. Listen first, then look. Click a note. Close your eyes for a moment. What does the interval feel like — settled, restless, urgent, ambiguous? Then open your eyes and check the visual. Does the position match the feeling?

2. Compare neighbors. Click 5̂, then 6̂, then ♭6̂. Listen for how each one feels differently against the tonic. Then click them again and look at how the dots move on the gradient. You're building the mapping between sound and position.

3. Walk through all twelve. Start at 1̂ and click every degree in order: ♭2̂, 2̂, ♭3̂, 3̂, 4̂, ♯4̂, 5̂, ♭6̂, 6̂, ♭7̂, 7̂. Notice how the green/yellow/red zones group the intervals into categories your ear can use.

4. Try different tonics. The relationships are the same — a 5̂ feels like a 5̂ in any key. Switching the tonic forces you to hear the INTERVAL, not the pitch. That's the abstraction composition asks you to make.

For counterpoint students

In first-species counterpoint, every note you write against the cantus firmus is a choice of distance. The green and yellow zones (LCM ≤ 40) are the consonant intervals — these are your stable options. The orange and red zones (LCM > 40) are dissonances — usable only when carefully prepared and resolved.

Before you write a note, hear the interval here. Feel whether it belongs in the green-yellow consonant zone for first species, or whether it's a sharper dissonance that needs treatment. Over time the visual zones become the same as the felt zones, and you'll choose pitches by ear without thinking in numbers.

What the zones mean

  • Green (LCM ≤ 6) — perfect consonances (P5, P8, unison). The strongest pulls toward home.
  • Olive (LCM 7–20) — major third, fourth. Close-to-home consonances.
  • Gold (LCM 21–40) — minor third, minor sixth. Imperfect consonances.
  • Amber (LCM 41–72) — major second, major sixth. Restless but usable.
  • Red (LCM > 72) — minor 2nd, major 7th, tritone. Sharp dissonances. Must resolve.