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The semitone appeared in the music theory of Greek antiquity as part of a diatonic or chromatic tetrachord, and it has always had a place in the diatonic scales of Western music since. The various modal scales of medieval music theory were all based upon this diatonic pattern of tones and semitones.
In music theory a diatonic scale is a heptatonic (seven-note) scale that includes five whole steps (whole tones) and two half steps (semitones) in each octave, in which the two half steps are separated from each other by either two or three whole steps. In other words, the half steps are maximally separated from each other.
Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are used to characterize scales. The terms are also applied to musical instruments, intervals , chords , notes , musical styles , and kinds of harmony .
For example, for every generic interval of a second there are only two possible specific intervals: 1 semitone (a minor second) or 2 semitones (a major second). In diatonic set theory a generic interval is the number of scale steps between notes of a collection or scale. The largest generic interval is one less than the number of scale members ...
For the ordinary diatonic scales described here, the T-s are tones and the s-s are semitones which are half, or approximately half the size of the tone.But in the more general regular diatonic tunings, the two steps can be of any relation within the range between T = 171.43 ¢ (for s = T at the high extreme) and T = 240 ¢ (for s = 0 at the low extreme) in musical cents (fifth, p5, between 685 ...
In Western music theory, an interval is named according to its number (also called diatonic number, interval size [6] or generic interval [7]) and quality. For instance, major third (or M3) is an interval name, in which the term major (M) describes the quality of the interval, and third (3) indicates its number.
Thus, S is the greater semitone, and X is the lesser one. S is commonly called the diatonic semitone (or minor second), while X is called the chromatic semitone (or augmented unison). The sizes of S and X can be compared to the just intonated ratio 18:17 which is 99.0 cents. S deviates from it by +18.2 cents, and X by −22.9 cents. These two ...
The Oxford Companion to Music describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (key signatures, time signatures, and rhythmic notation); the second is learning scholars' views on music from antiquity to the present; the third is a sub-topic of musicology ...