Lesson 10: Chromatic scales and the half step
About this video
This lesson adds sharps and flats to the seven note names and uses the piano keyboard to build the chromatic scale, which uses every key, white and black, from one C to the next. The distance between neighboring notes is a half step, also called a semitone or minor second, and a chromatic scale is made of 12 half steps. It ends with a chromatic scale in Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade.
You'll be able to
- describe a chromatic scale as one that moves by half steps through every key.
- name the notes of a chromatic scale ascending with sharps and descending with flats.
- define an interval and a half step (semitone, minor second).
- explain why E to F and B to C are half steps without a black key.
Key words
- chromatic scale
- A scale that moves through every note, white and black keys, in half steps; 12 half steps from C to C.
- half step
- The smallest distance between two neighboring notes on the keyboard; also called a semitone.
- semitone
- Another name for a half step.
- minor second
- The interval name for a half step.
- interval
- The distance between two musical pitches.
- octave
- The interval from one note to the next note with the same name, like C to C.
Transcript
- [Instructor] We have learned that there are seven names to all the notes, ABCDEFG. We can now add to that list of seven all the notes with sharps and flats. So an A, then there could be an A sharp, B, B sharp, C, C sharp, D, D sharp, and so forth. The same with flats.
A, A flat, G, G flat, F, F flat, and so forth. Let's go back to our piano keyboard. From the treble clef middle C, let's look at the octave above, the C on the third space. There are 12 note from the middle C to the third space C. These notes make up the chromatic scale.
(plays chromatic scale on piano) Remember that between E and F and between B and C there isn't a black key. Using sharps, here are all of the names of the notes of the chromaic scale. C, C sharp, D, D sharp, E, F, F sharp, G, G sharp, A, A sharp, B, C. The distance between each of these notes is called a half step or the interval of a semitone, also called a minor second.
An interval is the distance between two musical pitches. We already know one interval, an octave, and in future lessons, we will discuss many intervals, but for now let's focus on the interval of a half step. This is a fundamental building block of all musical intervals.
A chromatic scale is made up of 12 half steps. Now let's look a the chromatic scale from the third space C in the treble clef descending using flats. C, B, B flat, A, A flat, G, G flat, F, E, E flat, D, D flat, C. All half steps. Towards the end of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade in the flute part, he writes a chromatic scale, but he uses a combination of sharps, flats, and naturals to make this scale, all half steps, a chromatic scale.
(dramatic orchestral music)
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