Halftone |

lat. semitonium, hemitonium, nem. Halbton

The smallest interval of the 12-step europ. music building. There are P. chromatic (apotomy) and diatonic (limma). In the Pythagorean system chromatic. P. on the Pythagorean comma is more diatonic. In the tempered scale all pitches are equal, the sequence of 12 pitches fills the volume of the octave. Diatonic is called P. between adjacent steps of the scale (small second), for example hc, d-es; chromatic – P., educated DOS. step and its increase or decrease (increased prima), for example. f-fis, hb or, conversely, as-a, cis-c, etc., as well as an increased step and its double increase, a lower step and its double decrease, for example. fis-fisis, b-heses, and vice versa. The twice diminished third is enharmonic equal to P. See Temperament, Diatonic, Chromatism, Enharmonism.

V. A. Vakhromeev