Lesson 4: Accidentals - Half Steps & Whole Steps

Before we get to accidentals, we must understand the concept of half and whole steps.

Piano Connection

In music, a step is the distance between two keys on the piano. There are two kinds of steps: half and whole.

Half step: the distance from one key to the very next key. It does not matter whether that key is a black or white key.

Example: key E to key F is a half step because keys E and F are right next to each other on the piano with no other keys in-between them.
Whole step: the distance from one key to the key right after the very next key. It consists of two half steps, so there is one note between each key of the whole step.

Example: key C to key D is a whole step because there is a C# between them.

In all music notation, a half pitch is the pitch to the immediate vicinity of the actual pitch, and a whole pitch is any pitch two half pitches away from the actual pitch. However, as you can see, there are various problems explaining half and whole pitch with only the word "pitch." That's why it's helpful to read and understand half and whole steps above.

Lesson Overview

  1. Accidentals
  2. Sharps
  3. Flats
  4. Naturals

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