Semitone
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A semitone (British English) or half tone (U.S. English) means the distance between two notes which are next to one another in pitch.
A whole tone means a distance of two semitones, i.e. the distance between two notes which are separated by one other note in pitch.
This is easy to see with a picture of a keyboard. The distance between two white notes that are side by side may be a whole tone (if there is a black note in between them) or a semitone (if there is no black note between).
To go from a C to a C sharp (or D flat) is a semitone.
To go from a C sharp (or D flat) to a D is a semitone.
To go from a C to a D is a tone.
An octave is divided into twelve semitones. These semitones are exactly equal in size.
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