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For example, C is adjacent to C ♯; the interval between them is a semitone. [ 6 ] In a 12-note approximately equally divided scale, any interval can be defined in terms of an appropriate number of semitones (e.g. a whole tone or major second is 2 semitones wide, a major third 4 semitones, and a perfect fifth 7 semitones).
[1] [2] For example, to get the frequency one semitone up from A 4 (A ♯ 4), multiply 440 Hz by the twelfth root of two. To go from A 4 up two semitones (one whole tone) to B 4, multiply 440 twice by the twelfth root of two (or once by the sixth root of two, approximately 1.122462).
A semitone is any interval between two adjacent notes in a chromatic scale, a whole tone is an interval spanning two semitones (for example, a major second), and a tritone is an interval spanning three tones, or six semitones (for example, an augmented fourth).
The term, in its French form unisson superflu, appears to have been coined by Jean-Philippe Rameau in 1722, who also called this interval a minor semitone (semiton mineur). [5] Historically, this interval, like the tritone , is described as being "mi contra fa", and therefore is the "diabolus in musica" (the Devil in music). [ 6 ]
[9] [10] The key note or tonic of a piece in a major key is a semitone above the last sharp in the signature. [11] For example, the key of D major has a key signature of F ♯ and C ♯, and the tonic (D) is a semitone above C ♯. Each scale starting on the fifth scale degree of the previous scale has one new sharp, added in the order shown. [10]
It is called minor because it is the smaller of the two: the major third spans an additional semitone. For example, the interval from A to C is a minor third, as the note C lies three semitones above A. Coincidentally, there are three staff positions from A to C. Diminished and augmented thirds span the same number of staff positions, but ...
In classical music from Western culture, a diminished fourth (Play ⓘ) is an interval produced by narrowing a perfect fourth by a chromatic semitone. [ 1 ] [ 3 ] For example, the interval from C to F is a perfect fourth, five semitones wide, and both the intervals from C ♯ to F, and from C to F ♭ are diminished fourths, spanning four ...
For example, some 17th- and 18th-century theorists used the term to describe the distance between a sharp and enharmonically distinct flat in mean-tone temperaments (e.g., D ♯ –E ♭). [2] In the quarter-tone scale, also called 24-tone equal temperament (24-TET), the quarter tone is 50 cents , or a frequency ratio of 24 √ 2 or ...