4.2. Half Steps and Whole Steps *

The pitch of a note is how high or low it sounds. Musicians often find it useful to talk about how much higher or lower one note is than another. This distance between two pitches is called the interval between them. In Western music, the small interval from one note to the next closest note higher or lower is called a half step or semi-tone.

Figure 4.8. Half Steps

Three half-step intervals: between C and C sharp (or D flat); between E and F; and between G sharp (or A flat) and A.

Listen to the half steps in Figure 4.8.

The intervals in Figure 4.8 look different on a staff; sometimes they are on the same line, sometimes not. But it is clear at the keyboard that in each case there is no note in between them.

So a scale that goes up or down by half steps, a chromatic scale, plays all the notes on both the white and black keys of a piano. It also plays all the notes easily available on most Western instruments. (A few instruments, like trombone and violin, can easily play pitches that aren't in the chromatic scale, but even they usually don't.)

Figure 4.9. One Octave Chromatic Scale

All intervals in a chromatic scale are half steps. The result is a scale that plays all the notes easily available on most instruments.

Listen to a chromatic scale.

If you go up or down two half steps from one note to another, then those notes are a whole step, or whole tone apart.

Figure 4.10. Whole Steps

Three whole step intervals: between C and D; between E and F sharp; and between G sharp and A sharp (or A flat and B flat).

A whole tone scale, a scale made only of whole steps, sounds very different from a chromatic scale.

Figure 4.11. Whole Tone Scale

Listen to a whole tone scale.

You can count any number of whole steps or half steps between notes; just remember to count all sharp or flat notes (the black keys on a keyboard) as well as all the natural notes (the white keys) that are in between.

The interval between C and the F above it is 5 half steps, or two and a half steps.

Identify the intervals below in terms of half steps and whole steps. If you have trouble keeping track of the notes, use a piano keyboard, a written chromatic scale, or the chromatic fingerings for your instrument to count half steps.

Fill in the second note of the interval indicated in each measure.

Solutions to Exercises

Solution to Exercise 4.2.1. (Return to Exercise)

Solution to Exercise 4.2.2. (Return to Exercise)

If your answer is different, check to see if you have written a different enharmonic spelling of the note in the answer. For example, the B flat could be written as an A sharp.

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• Course Introduction
• Chapter 1. Notation
  • 1.1 Pitch
    • The Staff
    • Clef
    • Pitch: Sharp, Flat, and Natural Notes
    • Key Signature
    • Enharmonic spelling
  • 1.2 Time
    • Duration: Note lengths in written music
    • Duration: Rest length
    • Time Signature
    • Meter
    • Pickup Notes and Measures
    • Dots, Ties, and Borrowed divisions
    • Syncopation
    • Tempo
    • Repeats and Other Musical Road Map Signs
  • 1.3 Style
    • Dynamic and Accents
    • Articulation
• Chapter 2. Definitions
  • 2.1 Rhythm
  • 2.2 Timbre
  • 2.3 Melody
    • Introduction
    • The shape or Contour of a melody
    • Melodic Motion
    • Melodic Phrases
    • Motif
    • Melodies in Counterpoint
    • Themes
    • Suggestions for Presenting these Concepts to Children
  • 2.4 Texture
    • Introduction
    • Terms that Describe Texture
    • Monophonic
    • Homophonic
    • Polyphonic
    • Heterophonic
    • Suggested Listening
  • 2.5 Harmony
  • 2.6 Counterpoint
    • Introduction
    • Some useful terms
  • 2.7 Range
    • Introduction
    • Vocal Ranges
    • Intrumental Ranges
  • 2.8 Classifying Music
    • Western and Non-Western
    • Jazz, Blues, and World Music
    • Tonal, Atonal, and Modal Music
    • Classical and Art Music
    • Folk and Popular music
    • Suggestions for Listening and Further Study
• Chapter 3. The Physical Basis
  • 3.1 Acoustics for Music Theory
    • Music is Organized Sound Waves
    • Longitudinal and Transverse Waves
    • Wave Amplitude and Loudness
    • Wavelength, Frequency, and Pitch
  • 3.2 Standing Waves and Musical Instruments
    • What is a Standing Wave?
    • Standing Waves on Strings
    • Standing Waves in Wind Instruments
    • Standing Waves in other Objects
  • 3.3 Harmonic Series I: Timbre and Octaves
    • Introduction
    • Physics, Harmonics and Color
    • The Harmonics Series
• Chapter 4. Notes and Scales
  • 4.1 Octaves and the Major-Minor Tonal System
    • Where Octaves Come From
    • Naming Octaves
    • Dividing the Octave into Scales
  • 4.2 Half Steps and Whole Steps
  • 4.3 Major Keys and Scales
    • Tonal Center
    • Major Scales
    • Music in Different Major Keys
  • 4.4 Minor Keys and Scales
    • Music in a Minor Key
    • Minor Scales
    • Relative Minor and Major Keys
    • Harmonic and Melodic Minor Scales
    • Jazz and "Dorian Minor"
  • 4.5 Interval
    • The Distance Between Pitches
    • Naming Intervals
    • Classifying Intervals
    • Inverting Intervals
    • Summary
  • 4.6 Harmonic Series II: Harmonics, Intervals, and Instruments
    • Frequency and Interval
    • Brass Instruments
    • Playing Harmonics on Strings
  • 4.7 The Circle of Fifths
    • Related Keys
    • Key Signatures
  • 4.8 Scales that aren't Major or Minor
    • Introduction
    • Scales and Western Music
    • Pentatonic Scales
    • Dividing the Octave, More or Less
    • Constructing a Blues Scale
    • Modes and Ragas
    • Other Scales
• Chapter 5. Harmony and Form
  • 5.1 Triads
    • Triads in Root Position
    • First and Second Inversions
  • 5.2 Naming Triads
    • Major and Minor Chords
    • Augmented and Diminished Chords
  • 5.3 Consonance and Dissonance
  • 5.4 Beyond Triads: Naming Other Chords
    • Introduction
    • Chord Symbols
    • Seventh Chords
    • Added Notes, Suspensions, and Extensions
    • Bass Notes
    • Altering Notes and Chords
  • 5.5 Beginning Harmonic Analysis
    • Introduction
    • Basic Triads in Major Keys
    • A Hierarchy of Chords
    • Naming Chords Within a Key
    • Minor Keys
    • Modulation
  • 5.6 Cadence
  • 5.7 Form
    • Form is the Basic Structure
    • Describing Form
• Chapter 6. Challenges
  • 6.1 Ear Training
    • What is Ear Training?
    • Ear Training Skills
  • 6.2 Tuning System
    • Introduction
    • Tuning based on the Harmonic Series
    • Temperament
    • A comparison of Equal Temperament with the Harmonic Series
    • Beats and Wide Tuning
    • Further Study
  • 6.3 Modes and Ragas
    • Introduction
    • The Classical Greek Modes
    • The Medieval Church Modes
    • Modal Jazz and Folk Music
    • The Ragas of Classical Indian Music
    • Other Non-Western Modal Musics
    • Bibliography
  • 6.4 Transposition: Changing Keys
    • Why Transpose
    • Avoiding Transposition
    • How to Transpose Music
    • Choosing Your New Key
    • Transposing at Sight
    • Transposing Chord Names
• A. Attributions

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