page_title: Minor third
section_title: Pythagorean minor third
hierarchical_section_title: Minor third / Pythagorean minor third
caption_attribution_description: English: Pythagorean minor third (semiditone) on C&#160;= E♭-&#160;(Ben Johnston's notation). 32:27 = 294.13 cents. Limit: 3-limit.
context_page_description: In the music theory of Western culture, a minor third is a musical interval that encompasses three half steps, or semitones. Staff notation represents the minor third as encompassing three staff positions. The minor third is one of two commonly occurring thirds. It is called minor because it is the smaller of the two: the major third spans an additional semitone. For example, the interval from A to C is a minor third, as the note C lies three semitones above A. Coincidentally, there are three staff positions from A to C. Diminished and augmented thirds span the same number of staff positions, but consist of a different number of semitones. The minor third is a skip melodically.
  Notable examples of ascending minor thirds include the opening two notes of "Greensleeves" and of "Light My Fire".
  The minor third may be derived from the harmonic series as the interval between the fifth and sixth harmonics, or from the 19th harmonic.
  The minor third is commonly used to express sadness in music, and research shows that this mirrors its use in speech, as a tone similar to a minor third is produced during sad speech.
context_section_description: In music theory, a semiditone (or Pythagorean minor third) is the interval 32:27 (approximately 294.13 cents). It is the minor third in Pythagorean tuning. The 32:27 Pythagorean minor third arises in the C major scale between D and F. Play 
  It can be thought of as two octaves minus three justly tuned fifths. It is narrower than a justly tuned minor third by a syntonic comma.
caption: Semiditone (32:27) on C About this soundPlay (help·info).
exif: {}