whole step
1
5.4
- noun
- /hoʊl stɛp/
- Specialized
:
tono entero
- To play a whole step higher, move your finger up two frets on the guitar.
- half and whole step
- go up one whole step
- two whole steps
There's your C, half step, whole step, there's your chord.
- There's your C, half step, whole step, there's your chord.
- That's that are used to half step below or the whole step above the note.
Examples
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The teacher explained that a whole step consists of two semitones.
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Add a note a whole step above the preferred pitch and have the student echo the two-note pattern.
Academic text (2006) -
Was that a whole step or a half step?
Academic text (2007) -
So I asked the class, "What if we look at the last flat and go up two whole steps?"
Academic text (2001) -
If you go up two whole steps, you arrive at the tonic.
Academic text (2001) -
If you go down one whole step from B-sharp, you arrive at A-sharp, which is indeed the minor key.
Academic text (2001) -
If you go up two whole steps from F-flat, you will arrive at A-flat, which is the correct minor key.
Academic text (2001) -
The difference between half-step and whole-step intervals can be tricky for singers to master, forcing them to concentrate on pitch relations.
Academic text (2007) -
Beginning guitarists must immediately interpret the differences between half steps and whole steps, unlike beginning pianists, who can rely on the consecutive white keys of C major.
Academic text (2010) -
Mental warm-ups can include an exercise using both half-step and whole-step intervals. For example, I have singers alternate between singing whole steps and half steps in a three-note exercise.
Academic text (2007)
Synonyms
19
7.5
A musical pitch change equal to two half steps like C to D
1
6.6
An interval of two semitones used in many musical scales
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is compositionally built from 'whole' (complete/larger) + 'step' (an interval), so learners can infer it denotes a larger/complete step rather than something idiomatic. However, the precise meaning 'two semitones' is domain-specific musical knowledge (and not strictly derivable from the constituents), making the transparency only partial.
Etymology
The musical term whole step, made of whole + step, gives the picture of taking two small steps on a keyboard: for example, from C to D you move across one key in the middle. So a whole step means the distance of 'two half steps' between two notes.