What is a Semitone (Half Step)? A semitone, or half step as they’re known in the US, is the distance in pitch between a note and the very next note higher or lower. It’s the smallest interval in western music.

UNEQUAL TEMPERAMENT Bach didn’t use equal temperament. Neither did Mozart nor Beethoven or any of their contemporaries. They used unequal temperaments — also known as, you guessed it, Well-tempered.

In twelve-tone equal temperament all semitones are equal in size (100 cents). In other tuning systems, “semitone” refers to a family of intervals that may vary both in size and name.

two steps

The tone in a story indicates a particular feeling. It can be joyful, serious, humorous, sad, threatening, formal, informal, pessimistic, and optimistic.

Instead, we can talk about tones and semitones. When you move from one note to an adjacent one, you’ve gone up one semitone; A# to B is a semitone, and so is E to F. A tone, then, is two semitones. A to B is a one tone difference, as is C# to D#.

So, while F might sound like E# when played and the former used to substitute the latter for ordinary purposes, E# and F are entirely two different notes and this is because both notes cannot be written on the same staff position. If E# is written on a line, F would be on a space and vice-versa.

The distance from B to C is a half step because no other notes fall between them. The distance from A to B, however, is a whole step because it consists of two half steps.

As a result, in 12-tone equal temperament (the most common tuning in Western music), the chromatic scale covers all 12 of the available pitches. Thus, there is only one chromatic scale. In equal temperament, all the semitones have the same size (100 cents, and there are twelve semitones in an octave (1200 cents).

The word “octave” comes from a Latin root meaning “eight”. It seems an odd name for a frequency that is two times, not eight times, higher. The octave was named by musicians who were more interested in how octaves are divided into scales, than in how their frequencies are related.

We sometimes automatically sing and octave lower because it is what’s natural to us. If your voice is not trained on a higher octave, typically your body sorta goes to your ‘comfortable’ area automatically and hence, you sing on a lower octave (but same pitch as the singer.

As many others have pointed out, a song has to fit your Vocal range, which may be different from one another. If you are one octave lower than the original and you are comfortable, there is nothing wrong. Everybody sings in his /her comfort zone. Some songs may sound good at higher octave and higher pitches.

Depending on your sex it’s pretty easy to figure out which octave you’re singing on in my opinion. If you’re a male singing in the 2nd octave, it should sound pretty deep (1st is so rare that you’ll know). 3rd octave should sound like speaking or light singing at the top. 4th octave should sound high.

Your vocal cords have to be relaxed in order to produce low notes. Before you start singing, give yourself 5 minutes or more to warm-up. Make a sighing noise and try to carry it to the lowest, deepest pitch possible. Repeat this same noise repeatedly until you feel relaxed and ready to sing.

You can’t sing that low because your vocal cords aren’t built to vibrate freely at that pitch. Often times a younger child or young teenage girl can’t sing low because their cords are underdeveloped. As they mature their vocal cords mature also. Then they can hit the lower notes their genetics will allow.

The most common (and preventable) cause of vocal cord damage is overworking your throat. Certain styles of singing—belting, screaming, anything harsh or unnatural—are more likely to strain your vocal folds. Straining to hit a note that’s out of your range—too low is just as bad as too high—can also cause damage.

artificially high voice

Generally I don’t recommend using falsetto because of its’ limitations. But it’s ok to use as a stylistic choice if you choose to. It’s not ok if you have to use falsetto. If you tend to flip into falsetto it’s likely that your vocal type is Flip-Falsetto or Pulled Chest-High Larynx.

Clippinger most likely equivalent to the middle voice of a woman. This may mean the head voice of a woman is a man’s falsetto equivalent. Although, in contemporary teaching, some teachers no longer talk of the middle voice, choosing to call it the head voice as with men.

11 Amazing Falsetto Vocalists

• Philip Bailey.
• Jonsi Birgisson.
• Eddie Kendricks.
• Thom Yorke.
• Smokey Robinson.
• Frankie Valli.
• Prince. Prince is known for incorporating a wide variety of genres in his music including funk, disco, rock and pop.
• Jeff Buckley. Jeff Buckley was one of those singers who always kept his vocals quite understated.