Basic Music Theory: How to Read, Write, and Understand Written Music

Basic Music Theory

half step: whole step:

If you have access to an actual keyboard, play the scale below. It will be

all white notes from C to C. You’ll probably recognize the way it sounds.

Example 21.1 The C Major Scale. Ascending whole and half steps shown.

Whole and Half Steps for the Major Scale

Remember the natural half steps between E-F and B-C? In the C Major

scale, these natural half steps give us the pattern of whole and half steps

without the bother of accidentals.

As you can see above, the pattern for the C major scale: whole, whole,

half, whole, whole, whole, half (wwhwwwh). You’ll need to memorize

this, because this pattern of whole and half steps is the same for every

major scale.

Octave

This is as good a place as any to introduce you to the octave, a type of

interval which contains a certain amount of notes. Like octopus and

octagon, the octave also has an 8 in it.

Look at the scale above, and count the notes from C to C. There are 8 of

them. That’s an octave. From one letter name to the next, either up or

down, is an octave.

So, to be more specific, the above scale is the C Major scale, one octave,

ascending.