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Lesson 4 Tones and semitones

Learn music theory: ABRSM Grades 1&2

Learning objectives

• What a semitone is

• What a tone is

A piano keyboard

C D E F G A B C D

A piano keyboard

E F B C

Tones

C D

1 Semitone

Tones

C D

1 more Semitone

Tones

C D

Total!1 Tone

Tones

• Between any two notes that have a black note between them there is 1 Tone!

• What about those that don’t have a black note between them?

Semitones

E F

1 Semitone

Semitones

E F

Total!1 Semitone

Tones and semitones• The distance between two adjacent notes is a semitone

• It doesn’t matter if the notes are white-black or white-white

• So the distance between two white notes with no black note in between is 1 semitone, just as the distance between a white and a nearby black note is 1 semitone

• This is because they are adjacent (there is nothing in between)

We have seen

• A semitone is the distance between two adjacent (nearby) keys

• A tone is two semitones, usually the distance between two white notes (if they have a black note in between them)