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Instead, the half step was avoided in clausulae because it lacked clarity as an interval." [13] Dramatic chromatic scale in the opening measures of Luca Marenzio's Solo e pensoso, ca. 1580. However, beginning in the 13th century cadences begin to require motion in one voice by half step and the other a whole step in contrary motion. [13]
For example, C to D (major second) is a step, whereas C to E (major third) is a skip. More generally, a step is a smaller or narrower interval in a musical line, and a skip is a wider or larger interval with the categorization of intervals into steps and skips is determined by the tuning system and the pitch space used.
The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone, also known as a half-step, above or below its adjacent pitches. As a result, in 12-tone equal temperament (the most common tuning in Western music), the chromatic scale covers all 12 of the available pitches. Thus, there is only one chromatic scale.
Accidental symbols visually communicate a modification of a note's pitch from its tonal context. Most commonly, [note 2] the sharp symbol (♯) raises a note by a half step, while the flat symbol (♭) lowers a note by a half step. This half step interval is also known as a semitone (which has an equal temperament frequency ratio of 12 √ 2 ≅
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 ♭).
Melodies can be based on a diatonic scale and maintain its tonal characteristics but contain many accidentals, up to all twelve tones of the chromatic scale, such as the opening of Henry Purcell's "Thy Hand, Belinda" from Dido and Aeneas (1689) with figured bass), which features eleven of twelve pitches while chromatically descending by half steps, [1] the missing pitch being sung later.
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These can be grouped into two groups with consistent whole note steps, the first 3 keys (CDE) and the following 4 keys (FGAB). The black keys can be similarly divided into two groups of 2 and 3 keys. The same groups can be found in the Wicki–Hayden layout, with benefits that a step to the right now always is a whole note, and that the notes ...