Major sixth
| Inverse | minor third |
|---|---|
| Name | |
| Other names | septimal major sixth, supermajor sixth, major hexachord, greater hexachord, hexachordon maius |
| Abbreviation | M6 |
| Size | |
| Semitones | 9 |
| Interval class | 3 |
| Just interval | 5:3, 12:7, 27:16 |
| Cents | |
| Equal temperament | 900 |
| 24 equal temperament | 900 |
| Just intonation | 884, 933, 906 |
In music from Western culture, a sixth is a musical interval encompassing six note letter names or staff positions (see Interval number for more details), and the major sixth is one of two commonly occurring sixths. It is qualified as major because it is the larger of the two. The major sixth spans nine semitones. Its smaller counterpart, the minor sixth, spans eight semitones. For example, the interval from C up to the nearest A is a major sixth. It's a sixth because it encompasses six note letter names (C, D, E, F, G, A) and six staff positions. It's a major sixth, not a minor sixth, because the note A lies nine semitones above C. Diminished and augmented sixths (such as C♯ to A♭ and C to A♯) span the same number of note letter names and staff positions, but consist of a different number of semitones (seven and ten).
A commonly cited example of a melody featuring the major sixth as its opening is "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean".
The major sixth is one of the consonances of common practice music, along with the unison, octave, perfect fifth, major and minor thirds, minor sixth and (sometimes) the perfect fourth. In the common practice period, sixths were considered interesting and dynamic consonances along with their inverses the thirds, but in medieval times they were considered dissonances unusable in a stable final sonority; however in that period they were tuned to the Pythagorean major sixth of 27/16. In just intonation, the (5/3) major sixth is classed as a consonance of the 5-limit.
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