The Diatonic Scale: Whole Steps and Half Steps
You'll discover how the major scale is built, and where its whole steps and half steps fall.
Welcome to Part 2. Let's start with the diatonic scale. It is a series of sounds arranged in conjunct motion, that is, stepwise, from each degree to its neighbor, according to the laws of tonality, which you'll study in Part 3 (§ 66).
The seven notes C, D, E, F, G, A, B, plus an eighth sound, form a diatonic scale. That eighth sound is simply the first note repeated an octave higher. The top C can also become the first note of a new, higher series.
Each note of the scale is called a degree.
Whole step and half step
Here's the important part: the degrees are not evenly spaced. Between some of them, the distance is larger, and this is the whole step, called a tone in the UK. Between others, it is smaller, and this is the half step, or semitone (§ 67).
In this scale, called the major scale, the whole steps lie between degrees 1 and 2, 2 and 3, 4 and 5, 5 and 6, and 6 and 7. The half steps lie between degrees 3 and 4, and between degrees 7 and 8 (§ 68).
Press a key: you hear the sound and see its name and its place on the staff.
- Scale
- C major
- Key signature
- no sharps or flats
- Degrees
- 1. tonic · 2. supertonic · 3. mediant · 4. subdominant · 5. dominant · 6. submediant · 7. leading tone
- Tetrachords
- C D E F | G A B C: two identical tetrachords (whole, whole, half) a whole step apart
Write out the C major scale and show between which degrees the whole steps and half steps fall.
You've seen that the half step is the smallest distance in the scale. In the next lesson, you'll find out that there are two kinds of half steps. First, the quiz.