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Glossary

Chromatic scale - Scale including all twelve tones of the octave; each tone is a half step away from the next one.

Half step - Smallest interval traditionally used in western music; for example, the interval between ti and do.

Home key - See tonic key.

Interval - "Distance" in pitch between any two tones.

Key (tonality) - Central note, scale, and chord within a piece, in relationship to which all other tones in the composition are heard.

Key signature - Sharp or flat signs immediately following the clef sign at the beginning of a piece of music, indicating the key in which the music is to be played.

Keynote - (tonic) Central tone of a melody or larger piece of music. When a piece is in the key of C major, for example, C is the keynote.

Major key - Music based on a major scale.

Major scale - Series of seven different tones within an octave, with an eighth tone repeating the first tone an octave higher, consisting of a specific pattern of whole and half steps; the whole step between the second and third tones is characteristic.

Modulation - Shift from one key to another within the same piece.

Notation - System of writing down music so that specific pitches and rhythms can be communicated.

Scale - Series of pitches arranged in order from low to high or high to low.

Tonality - See key.

Tonic - See keynote.

Tonic key (home key) - Central key of a piece of music, usually both beginning and ending the piece, regardless of how many other keys are included.

Unison - Performance of a single melodic line by more than one instrument or voice at the same pitch or in different octaves.

Whole step - Interval twice as large as the half step; for example, the interval between do and re.

Whole-tone scale - Scale made up of six different tones, each a whole step away from the next, which conveys no definite sense of tonality; often found in the music of Debussy and his followers.