music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

, a step, or conjunct motion,Bonds, Mark Evan (2006). ''A History of Music in Western Culture'', p.123. 2nd ed. . is the difference in pitch between two consecutive

note Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to: Music and entertainment * Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music * ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian * ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) shortened version ...

s of a

musical scale In music theory, a scale is any set of musical notes ordered by fundamental frequency or pitch. A scale ordered by increasing pitch is an ascending scale, and a scale ordered by decreasing pitch is a descending scale. Often, especially in the ...

. In other words, it is the interval between two consecutive scale degrees. Any larger interval is called a skip (also called a leap), or disjunct motion. In the diatonic scale, a step is either a

minor second A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically. It is defined as the interval between two adjacent no ...

(sometimes also called ''half step'') or a

major second In Western music theory, a major second (sometimes also called whole tone or a whole step) is a second spanning two semitones (). A second is a musical interval encompassing two adjacent staff positions (see Interval number for more de ...

(sometimes also called ''whole step''), with all intervals of a

minor third In music theory, a minor third is a musical interval that encompasses three half steps, or semitones. Staff notation represents the minor third as encompassing three staff positions (see: interval number). The minor third is one of two com ...

or larger being skips. For example, C to D (major second) is a step, whereas C to E (

major third In classical music, a third is a Interval (music), musical interval encompassing three staff positions (see Interval (music)#Number, Interval number for more details), and the major third () is a third spanning four semitones.Allen Forte, ...

) is a skip. More generally, a step is a smaller or narrower interval in a musical line, and a skip is a wider or larger interval with the categorization of intervals into steps and skips is determined by the

tuning system In music, there are two common meanings for tuning: * Tuning practice, the act of tuning an instrument or voice. * Tuning systems, the various systems of pitches used to tune an instrument, and their theoretical bases. Tuning practice Tun ...

and the

pitch space In music theory, pitch spaces model relationships between pitches. These models typically use distance to model the degree of relatedness, with closely related pitches placed near one another, and less closely related pitches placed farther apa ...

used.

Melodic motion Melodic motion is the quality of movement of a melody, including nearness or farness of successive pitches or notes in a melody. This may be described as conjunct or disjunct, stepwise, skipwise or no movement, respectively. See also contrapunta ...

in which the interval between any two consecutive pitches is no more than a step, or, less strictly, where skips are rare, is called ''stepwise'' or ''conjunct''

melodic motion Melodic motion is the quality of movement of a melody, including nearness or farness of successive pitches or notes in a melody. This may be described as conjunct or disjunct, stepwise, skipwise or no movement, respectively. See also contrapunta ...

, as opposed to ''skipwise'' or ''disjunct'' melodic motion, characterized by frequent skips.

Half steps

In the

major scale The major scale (or Ionian mode) is one of the most commonly used musical scales, especially in Western music. It is one of the diatonic scales. Like many musical scales, it is made up of seven notes: the eighth duplicates the first at double ...

or any of its modes, a step will always be a movement of 1 or 2 semitones, and a skip a movement of 3 or more semitones. In other scales an

augmented second In classical music from Western culture, an augmented second is an interval that, in equal temperament, is sonically equivalent to a minor third, spanning three semitones, and is created by widening a major second by a chromatic semitone.Ben ...

—an incomposite step equivalent to 3 semitones—and/or a

diminished third In classical music from Western culture, a diminished third () is the musical interval produced by narrowing a minor third by a chromatic semitone.Benward & Saker (2003). ''Music: In Theory and Practice, Vol. I'', p.54. . For instance, the inte ...

—a skip of 2 semitones—may be possible.

Melody

Melody may be characterized by its degree and type of conjunct and disjunct motion. For example,

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

plainchant Plainsong or plainchant (calque from the French ''plain-chant''; la, cantus planus) is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Western Church. When referring to the term plainsong, it is those sacred pieces that are composed in Latin text ...

melodies are generally characterized by conjunct motion with occasional thirds, fourths, and generally ascending fifths while larger intervals are quite rare though octave leaps may occur between two separate

phrases In syntax and grammar, a phrase is a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adjective phrase "very happy". Phrases can consi ...

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

melodies are generally characterized by conjunct motion, with only occasional leaps of more than a fifth and then rarely anything but a sixth or octave. In contrast, melody in the 20th century varied greatly including the diatonic idiom of the 18th century ( Classical), the variety of idioms from the 19th century ( Romantic), and newer nondiatonic scales in the 20th century.Bonds (2006), p.540. Some of these later idioms included many or predominantly leaps.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steps And Skips Intervals (music) Melody