20240831183733-Semitones

Semitones

From “Semi-Tones“ in Music Theory for Electronic Music Producers

A semitone is the smallest musical value we have - that is to say, it is the smallest amount you can move on a keyboard. If you take two adjacent notes on a keyboard, they are a semitone apart.

By “keyboard¨ is meant here a piano keyboard, and by “notes¨ is meant all the appropriately-tuned keys in a standard Western classical piano keyboard, i.e. black and white keys altogether.

As appears in the book as well:

From “Black and White Keys¨ in Music Theory for Electronic Music Producers

[…] we should define “adjacent notes” on a keyboard. That includes both the black keys and the white keys.

Exemplar image:

Semitone is an interval, not a key type

Keep in mind that “semitone¨ does not refer to a type of key on a standard Western classical piano, but to a motion or movement from one properly-tuned key to another most adjacent properly-tuned key.

white_keys black_keys music music_theory

---

bibliography

• “Semi-Tones.” In Music Theory for Electronic Music Producers: The Producer’s Guide to Harmony, Chord Progressions, and Song Structure in the MIDI Grid., 1st ed., 22. Minneapolis, MN: Slam Academy, 2018.
• “Black and White Keys.” In Music Theory for Electronic Music Producers: The Producer’s Guide to Harmony, Chord Progressions, and Song Structure in the MIDI Grid., 1st ed., 23. Minneapolis, MN: Slam Academy, 2018.