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It is defined as the interval between two adjacent notes in a 12-tone scale (or half of a whole step), visually seen on a keyboard as the distance between two keys that are adjacent to each other. For example, C is adjacent to C ♯ ; the interval between them is a semitone.
It is a symmetrical scale with a slightly ambiguous tonal centre, due to the many half steps. Its step pattern is W, H, +, H, H, +, H, where W indicates a whole step , H indicates a half step , and + indicates an augmented second (three half steps, enharmonically equivalent to a minor third but functionally distinct).
For instance, in a chromatic scale each scale step represents a semitone interval, while a major scale is defined by the interval pattern W–W–H–W–W–W–H, where W stands for whole step (an interval spanning two semitones, e.g. from C to D), and H stands for half-step (e.g. from C to D ♭).
That means that, in A aeolian (or A minor), a scale would be played beginning in A, move up a whole step (two piano keys) to B, move up a half step (one piano key) to C, then up a whole step to D, a whole step to E, a half step to F, a whole step to G, and a final whole step to a high A.
Diminished, minor and augmented seconds are notated on adjacent staff positions as well, but consist of a different number of semitones (zero, one, and three). The intervals from the tonic (keynote) in an upward direction to the second, to the third, to the sixth, and to the seventh scale degrees of a major scale are called major.
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Each octatonic scale has exactly two modes: the first begins its ascent with a whole step, while the second begins its ascent with a half step . These modes are sometimes referred to as the whole step/half-step diminished scale and the half-step/whole step diminished scale, respectively. [10]