Harmony Question

though i am by no means a guru, here goes...

1. im not sure what your asking in question one, the sentence doesnt really have any context... what is combined?

2.&3. "the difference between an major interval and a minor is one half step, with a minor being the smaller" Take an Amaj... the major third interval is 2 steps/tones, A to C#. The minor third interval is a half step(semitone) less, ie A to C. In the key of A major the notes are

A, B#, C#, D, E, F#, G#, A

The distance from A to any note is major interval from A to the second note is a major second, A to the third is a major third...
So a minor interval is a half step less than the major interval...
Major second A to B# (tone)
Minor second A to B (semitone)
The minor second is the smallest interval, and is called a semitone..

hope you can get some sense out of these ramblings...

What he's combining is the two parts of an interval classification. Each interval name has two parts: a quality label (major/minor/perfect/augmented/diminished) and a quantity label (third, sixth, etc)

He then uses the term 'general name' to mean the quantity part. In other words, a minor third is always a half step smaller than the same major third, a minor sixth is always a half step smaller than a major sixth, etc.

The minor second is the same as a 'half step', which is the space between B-C and E-F in the musical alphabet; it's one fret on the guitar. The major second is the space between the other pairs of adjacent letters, and it's the same as two frets.

1. I think that he is referring to how we describe the relationship between two notes "in combination". So when we speak of 2 notes that are 7 semitones apart, we refer to the interval between them as a perfect fifth.

2. Each interval has two components - the interval itself, e.g. 2nd, 5th, etc and the quality of the interval, e.g minor, major, etc. For an interval to remain the same, the notes of the interval must remain the same - if you are looking at the interval between A and C, it is a 3rd (3 notes names) and will always be a 3rd, whether you are referring to Cbb (aka Bb or A#), Cb (aka B), C, C# or Cx (aka D). However, to refer to B rather than Cb, would change the interval to a 2nd (2 note names)
All intervals of a major scale which are not denoted as perfect (an interval is perfect when it's inversion is also perfect - an inverted major interval is minor) are major. If you look at the relative minor scale of any major scale, you will notice that the 3rd, 6th and 7th degrees of the scale are all one semitone less from their next lower partner than in the major scale - the 3rd interval in a relative minor scale is 1 semitone from the 2nd as against 2 in a major scale - it is one semitone lower than a major interval. The same applies to both the 6th and 7th degrees.

3. A half step is also known as a semitone - just as a whole tone is also a whole step.
A major 2nd is 2 semitones (or 1 whole tone) distant from the root. A minor 2nd, as shown in the other examples, is one semitoneless than the major interval and, therefore, only 1 semitone from the root.

Maybe this chart would help:

Greybeard's Interval Chart