The smallest interval used in classical Western music, equal to a twelfth of an octave or half a tone.
the music rises a half step and goes on doing what it did before
Also called semitone
Example sentencesExamples
For example, when I first used MusicEase, I was dismayed to hear that the pitch emanating out of my computer was about a half step flat.
Andreas Werckmeister was a musician and music theorist who invented the equal tempered scale - the octave divided into 12 equal half steps - in 1685.
Remind the student that in major keys, the half steps will occur between degrees three and four and degrees seven and eight.
For example, the sight-singing student who depends upon intervallic content alone in rendering pitches will view the passage C-D-E-F as two whole steps followed by a half step.
Take the opportunity to point out that a perfect fifth - when counting either direction in the alphabet - contains seven half steps, avoiding confusion between B and F-sharp, or B-flat and F.
Definition of half step in US English:
half step
nounˈhæf ˌstɛpˈhaf ˌstep
North American Music
The smallest interval used in classical Western music, equal to a twelfth of an octave or half a tone.
the music rises a half step and goes on doing what it did before
Also called semitone
Example sentencesExamples
Andreas Werckmeister was a musician and music theorist who invented the equal tempered scale - the octave divided into 12 equal half steps - in 1685.
For example, when I first used MusicEase, I was dismayed to hear that the pitch emanating out of my computer was about a half step flat.
For example, the sight-singing student who depends upon intervallic content alone in rendering pitches will view the passage C-D-E-F as two whole steps followed by a half step.
Remind the student that in major keys, the half steps will occur between degrees three and four and degrees seven and eight.
Take the opportunity to point out that a perfect fifth - when counting either direction in the alphabet - contains seven half steps, avoiding confusion between B and F-sharp, or B-flat and F.