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Keyboard Steps
On the keyboard, a step is the distance from one key to any adjacent key— that is, a key that is touching it. Steps, like intervals, describe the distance between two notes. The relationship between steps and intervals will be explained in a future lesson.
Two white notes directly next to each other— that is, without a black note in the crack between them —are a half step apart. This is the closest pitch distance. 2 white notes with the black note in the crack between them are a whole step apart.
You should now take the lesson quiz on White Note Steps. If you're watching this video on YouTube, then go to SonicFit.com to the lessons. Then, find the lesson 'Keyboard Steps and Accidentals'— where you'll find this video and the quiz. This quiz covers your ability to identify the letter names of any white key on the keyboard, as well as determine if 2 white notes are a whole or half step apart.
Keyboard Accidentals
On a keyboard, keys to the right are higher and keys to the left are lower. Flat means lower, and sharp means higher. A note that is out of tune could be described using these terms. In music notation, flat and sharp are types of accidentals represented by the symbols above. A flat lowers the pitch of any note by a half step. Often, this means going to the black note to the left of the white note identified by the letter. For example, to make 'A' flat, first we find 'A' and then go down a half step to the black note to the left. Similarly, a sharp raises the pitch of a note by a half step. Often, this means going to the black note to the right of the white note identified by the letter. To find 'D sharp', we find 'D' and then go to the black note to the right—creating a half step. Because of this, each black note is commonly called by 2 different names— 1 letter raised sharp and 1 letter lowered flat.
Enharmonics
This note, for example, is both both 'F sharp' and 'G flat'. Tunings for the same pitch are called enharmonic equivalents, like 'F sharp' and 'G flat'. 'C sharp' and 'D flat', this note here, are also pairs of enharmonic equivalents. You can say that 'C sharp' is enharmonic to 'D flat', or that 'C sharp' is the enharmonic of 'D flat'.
Try this one: What note is enharmonic to 'A flat'?
Find 'A', go flat, and it would be the same with 'G' raised sharp—so, 'G sharp'.
If you line up all the notes in order, you would have a chromatic scale. Notes immediately next to each other in the chromatic scale are half steps apart. Notes that have 1 note between them are a whole step apart.
See if you can identify the following as half steps or whole steps.
This black note to this white note has a white note in between, so that's a whole step.
This white note to this black note does not have any notes in between, so that's a half step.
This black note to this black note has 1 white note in between, so that's a whole step.
From 'A sharp' to 'B' there is no note in between, so that's a half step.
From 'B flat' to 'C' there is a note in between, so that's a whole step.
Intervals of the scale
Intervals between the first 5 notes of the major scale are as follows.
'Do' to 're' is a whole step.
'Re' to 'mi' is a whole step.
'Mi' to 'fa' is the one half step.
'Fa' to 'sol' is a whole step.
Notice that if 'do' starts on 'C', then these 5 notes will fall on white keys. Starting on other keys often requires black notes. For example, starting on 'D' requires an 'F sharp'. If we had an 'F natural', then we would have a half step between 're' and 'mi'. You want a whole step between 're' and 'mi', so we need to raise 'mi' to 'F sharp'. 'Re mi' becomes a whole step, and sets up 'mi fa' to be a half step. If we start on 'E', then 'do re' is supposed to be a whole step. If 'F' was natural it'd be a half step, so we raise 'F'. 'F' to 'G' is a half step, so we also have to raise 'G' to 'G sharp' to make 're mi' a whole step. 'Mi fa' is a half step and already fits right there.
In this exercise, play 'do re mi fa sol fa mi re do' starting with 'do' on 'C'. Then, move 'do' up to each higher white note up until 'A'. This exercise will ingrain an intuitive understanding of whole steps, half steps, and their place on the scale. It will lay the foundation for your future facility in all keys. Finally, it will come in handy if you ever need to lead in singing warm ups.
You should start with all fingers resting on the keys—1 finger per note, like the highlighted blue notes. Look to see, all at once, that all the intervals are whole steps except for 'mi fa'—which is a half step. If anything is off, be sure to go back to 'do' and fix upward. Once you have it lined up, then try to play the fingers in a row. Your resting position will be highlighted in light blue starting on each key.
