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Definition of Half step
1. Noun. The musical interval between adjacent keys on a keyboard instrument.
Definition of Half step
1. Noun. (music US) An interval of which there are seven in a fifth or twelve in an octave, consisting of two tones whose frequency ratio is about 1.059 or 18/17. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Lexicographical Neighbors of Half Step
Literary usage of Half step
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Music Notation and Terminology by Karl Wilson Gehrkens (1914)
"to secure a tone with such a strongly upward tendency the interval between seven
and eight had to be reduced in size to a half-step. It should be noted that ..."
2. First Theory Book by Diller, Angela (1921)
"The half-step above a natural, whether a white key or a black key, ... The half-step
below a natural is its flat (b), and the half-step below the flat is ..."
3. The Material Used in Musical Composition: A System of Harmony Designed by Percy Goetschius (1913)
"The diatonic half-step is the difference in pitch between tones that lie five
... The chromatic half-step is seven harmonic degrees removed; Ex. 8c. ..."
4. Manual of Harmony by Salomon Jadassohn, Paul Torek, Henry Bickford Pasmore (1890)
"Among half-steps we distinguish between the large and small half-step. The large
half-step is formed by the chromatic alteration which an accidental ..."
5. Elements of Harmony by Stephen Albert Emery (1899)
"Retardations resolving but a half step upward are more common and more agreeable
than those progressing a whole step. As the numerals required to indicate ..."
6. The Shawm: Library of Church Music: Embracing about One Thousand Pieces by William Batchelder Bradbury, George Frederick Root, Thomas Hastings, Timothy Battelle Mason (1853)
"A feign is used in music whicn, when placed before a note, indicates a sound a
half tone (half step) higher than the letter upon which the note is written ..."
7. Harmony Book for Beginners: A Text Book and Writing Book for the First Year by Preston Ware Orem (1916)
"A Half-Step, or Semi-Tone, is the smallest difference in Pitch which can be found
upon the Keyboard of the Pianoforte. It is the least difference in Pitch ..."
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