The_Complete_Idiot%27s_Guide_To_Music_Theory

18
Part 1: Tones
Definition
An interval is the
space between two pitches.
The smallest interval in
Western music is a half
step; intervals are typically
measured in the number of
half steps between the two
notes.
Definition
Two notes that
sound the same but can
be spelled differently are
called enharmonic notes.
Definition
Any modification
to a natural note is called
an accidental. Sharps and
flats are accidentals; the
natural sign (used to return
a sharped or flatted note
to its natural state) is also
an accidental.
These black keys are called sharps and flats. Sharps and flats are halfway between
the pitches represented by the white keys on a piano; a sharp is above a specific
key and a flat is below a specific key.
Put another way, a sharp raises the natural note; a flat lowers the note.
Take the black key above the middle C key, for example. You can refer to this key
as C-sharp, because it raises the pitch of C. It also can be called D-flat, because
it lowers the next white key up, D. It may be a little confusing, but it’s true—
C-sharp is the same note as D-flat. And whenever you have two notes that
describe the same pitch—like C-sharp and D-flat—the notes are enharmonic.
Here are the dual names you can use for a piano’s black keys:
The black keys on a piano keyboard.
On a music staff, sharps and flats are designated by special characters placed
before the affected note. These characters, called accidentals, look like this:
A sharp, a flat, and a natural sign.
That third character is called a natural. When you see a natural sign on a piece
of music, it means to return the specific note to its natural state, without any
sharps or flats.
It’s important to know that you can add sharps and flats to any note—even those
keys on a piano that don’t have black notes between them. So, for example, if
you add a flat to the C note, you lower it to the next note on the keyboard—
which happens to be B natural. (This means B natural is the same pitch as C-flat.)
Steppin’ Out …
The smallest interval in Western music is the half step. On the piano keyboard,
half steps appear between the white keys B and C and between E and F. In all
other cases they appear between a white key and a black key—for example, D
to D-sharp, or F-sharp to G.