Day 543 min

Semitones, whole tones, and the black keys

Music's unit of distance. Once you have a unit, every scale and chord becomes a formula you can work out.

The semitone is the smallest unit

A semitone is the distance from one key to the very next key, whether that is white to black, black to white, or white to white. The important words are next key — the colour is irrelevant.

semitonewhole tone
semitonewhole tone
C to C sharp is a semitone. So is E to F, even though both of those are white keys.
C · C#So close it is almost grating. That is what a semitone feels like.
C · DWider, easier on the ear. That is a whole tone.

A whole tone is two semitones — put simply, skip one key. This distance matters enormously, because the major scale you meet in the next level is built entirely from a fixed pattern of whole tones and semitones.

Sharps and flats

Black keys have no names of their own. They borrow from the white key next door and add a sign. Sharp means one semitone higher; flat means one semitone lower.

The black key between C and D can be called C sharp or D flat, because it is a semitone above C and a semitone below D.

One key with two names is called an enharmonic. Most people find this annoying at first. The answer is that it depends which direction you arrived from: if the music is climbing we call it a sharp, and if it is falling we call it a flat. This gets much clearer once you meet scales in level 2.

Black keyAs a sharpAs a flat
between C and DC♯D♭
between D and ED♯E♭
between F and GF♯G♭
between G and AG♯A♭
between A and BA♯B♭
Five black keys per octave, each with two names.

Find the black keys

Press the black key matching the name shown.

C#4

Question 1 of 5

No labels now — use the black-key groups to find it

Every key in one octave

Move a semitone at a time from C up to the next C, skipping nothing, and you get twelve notes. That is the chromatic scale, and it is every sound the keyboard can make.

Twelve notes, and then back round to C.

C · C# · D · D# · E · F · F# · G · G# · A · A# · B · CLike climbing a ladder with small, perfectly even rungs.

Chromatic, half an octave

Play a semitone at a time from C up to G.

CC#DD#EFF#G

Press them one at a time, following the highlight

Put in the reps

Twelve notes: every key in the octave with nothing skipped. Your hand settles into a rhythm of moving in to the black keys and back out again, right up until E and F, where two white keys sit side by side.

Twelve keys, a semitone at a time

The two places it drags are E to F, and B rolling back round to C. There is no black key to step onto, so the in-and-out motion your hand had settled into breaks exactly there.

52BPMCurrent tempo
Ckey 1 of 2
0/4Tempo rungs cleared
0/4Clean reps in a row
CC#DD#EFF#GG#AA#B

Loop it in time with the clicks. 4 clean reps in a row moves you up a rung; one slip starts the count again · from 52 up to 76 BPM · after the first key it moves through 2 more

Today's minigame

Key hunt including black keys

A key lights up and you name it. Multiple choice.

Trains: reading the keyboard from the shape of the black-key groups, not from labels

Homework

Go to homework
The pairs with no black key betweenAnswer a question about the white-key pairs that sit only a semitone apart.
Black keys by namePress the black key matching the name. Repeat until it needs no thought.
A full chromatic octavePlay a semitone at a time from C to the next C — all thirteen notes.
Take the pattern up to tempoToday's loop, a notch faster than the lesson version. Repeat it as often as you like — it comes back on its own when it is due.

All homework lives on the homework page. Repeat it as often as you like — anything you're still shaky on gets pushed back to the top by itself.

SummaryA semitone is the distance between the closest two keys, regardless of colourA whole tone is two semitones — skip one keyE to F and B to C are only a semitone apart, because no black key sits between themSharp means a semitone up, flat means a semitone downEvery black key has two names, depending on which direction you approached fromEvery semitone in an octave gives twelve notes: the chromatic scale
Done with day 5?

No rush. If you're not confident yet, run the minigame above once more before marking it done.

  • Read every part · 0 of 4
  • Take the drill up to target tempo · 0 of 1
  • Clear 60% of today's minigame · 0 of 1
  • Come back and practise again later · 0 of 2 sittings