Semitone facts for kids
A semitone (British English) (also called a half step or a half tone) is the smallest musical interval used in Western music. It is the distance between two notes which are next to one another in pitch.
A whole tone means a distance of two semitones, i.e. the distance between two notes which are separated by one other note in pitch.
This is easy to see with a picture of a keyboard. The distance between two white notes that are side by side may be a whole tone (if there is a black note in between them) or a semitone (if there is no black note between).
To go from a C to a C sharp (or D flat) is a semitone.
To go from a C sharp (or D flat) to a D is a semitone.
To go from a C to a D is a tone.
An octave is divided into twelve semitones. These semitones are exactly equal in size.
Related pages
- Grout, Donald Jay, and Claude V. Palisca. A History of Western Music, 6th ed. New York: Norton, 2001. ISBN: 0-393-97527-4.
- Hoppin, Richard H. Medieval Music. New York: W.W. Norton, 1978. ISBN: 0-393-09090-6.
Images for kids
-
Franz Liszt's second Transcendental Étude, measure 63
-
16:15 diatonic semitone
See also
In Spanish: Semitono para niños