Chromatic and diatonic semitones are the same notes but are an example of what we call enharmonic equivalents. An enharmonic equivalent is just another name for the same note.
With the example of E to F , E to F is a semitone, and F to F is another semitone and two semitones are equal to a tone. With the example of C to D, C to C is a semitone and C to D is another semitone and two semitones are equal to a tone.
Semitones and tones are essential building blocks of scales, chords, intervals, melodies and lots more things in music. Last updated 12th July The semitone, also known as the half step, is the basic unit of measurement in Western music. Getting a handle on this topic will solidify our knowledge of the piano keyboard. It is also a crucial aspect of understanding how contemporary music works. We already know that pitch refers how high or low a note sounds.
Each note on the piano is higher in pitch than the note on its left, and lower than the note on its right. But how do we measure the distance in pitch from one note to another? The distance between any two neighboring notes on the piano is called a semitone , or half-step. Each and every note on the piano is a semitone away from the note immediately next to it , whether white or black. When we look at a piano, this may not be so immediately obvious.
Each note has the exact same distance in pitch from the next. For example, there is the same distance from a B note to the C next to it, as there is from a C note to the black note next to it.
An octave contains 12 unique notes. On a piano, the smallest interval is a half step, and this is the case for all Western music, but there are many other ways of distributing the sounds in a mode. Western music uses practically only two modes: the major mode major scale and the minor mode minor scale. Musical cultural diversity is very rich and very varied, this is the case for Arab music which has many more modes than Western music has. Arabic music uses maqams, and most of them include quarter tones.
Bayati maqam is one of the most popular maqam in the Arabic music:. The inverted flat in front of the E note is a half flat, so this note is a quarter of a tone lower than the E note. Obviously it's impossible to play quarter tones on a piano, but the piano is not the only instrument in real life. Hence, C and Db are enharmonic equivalents. The only difference is that they have different note names. C is a chromatic semitone higher than C and Db is a diatonic semitone higher than C.
This stands for whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step half step. There are 2 semitones and 5 whole steps. Like the major scale, there are 2 semitones and 5 whole steps. Piano Keyboard Diagram. This website uses cookies to improve your experience.
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