Day 6 - Steps and Accidentals

Half-step/semitone: distance from one key to the next - Key 1 and Key 2 (a white key and a black key in the example) are next to each other, so they are a half-step. Sometimes half-steps don’t always correspond to white key-black key; sometimes they can be two white keys as shown in the lesson’s second example on semitones.

Whole step/whole tone: the combined distance of two semitones - Key 1 to Key 3 is a whole tone - if you play Key 1 (white key) and Key 2 (black key) you get a semi-tone. Play Key 2 (black key) and Key 3 (white key) and you get another semitone. Play all three (white key, black key, white key) and you get a whole tone.

Accidentals: signs used to raise or lower a note’s pitch by a half-step. First two accidentals discussed are flat and sharp. Flats lower notes by a half-step, while sharps raise notes by a half-step. Flats can be represented as a lowercase B when typed, and sharps can be represented by a number/pound sign.

The black key between C and D can be called C sharp (C#) as it’s a half step above C or it can be called D flat (Db) because it’s a half-step below D.

On the opposite end, we have the white keys E and F. E can be called Fb (F flat) since it’s a half-step below F. Likewise F can be called E# (or E sharp) because it’s a half-step above E.

A pitch with multiple names is called an “enharmonic spelling”.

Double flats and double sharps increase or decrease a note’s pitch by a whole, rather than half-, step. They can be written as bb (double flat) or x (double sharp).

D and Ebb, for example, have the same pitch since Ebb is a whole step down from E like D is. D is also the same as Cx since it’s a whole step above C.

Naturals are steps that cancel out accidentals and returns a note to the original pitch.