Semitone

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A musical keyboard.  The black note between C and D is called either C sharp or D flat
A musical keyboard. The black note between C and D is called either C sharp or D flat

A semitone (British English) or half tone (U.S. English) means the distance between two notes which are next to one another in pitch.

A whole tone means a distance of two semitones, i.e. the distance between two notes which are separated by one other note in pitch.

This is easy to see with a picture of a keyboard. The distance between two white notes that are side by side may be a whole tone (if there is a black note in between them) or a semitone (if there is no black note between).

To go from a C to a C sharp (or D flat) is a semitone.

To go from a C sharp (or D flat) to a D is a semitone.

To go from a C to a D is a tone.

An octave is divided into twelve semitones. These semitones are exactly equal in size.

See also: