page_title: Semitone
section_title: Minor second
hierarchical_section_title: Semitone / Minor second
caption_attribution_description: Example of a harmonic minor second in J.S. Bach's first Prelude from "The Well-Tempered Clavier" book 1, mm. 7-9. (Surrounding mesaures available at Image:Bach minor second.png.) The work is public domain; this reproduction is by the uploader.
context_page_description: 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 notes in a 12-tone scale. For example, C is adjacent to C♯; the interval between them is a semitone.
  In a 12-note approximately equally divided scale, any interval can be defined in terms of an appropriate number of semitones
context_section_description: The minor second occurs in the major scale, between the third and fourth degree, (mi (E) and fa (F) in C major), and between the seventh and eighth degree (ti (B) and do (C) in C major). It is also called the diatonic semitone because it occurs between steps in the diatonic scale. The minor second is abbreviated m2 (or −2). Its inversion is the major seventh (M7 or Ma7).
  Listen to a minor second in equal temperament . Here, middle C is followed by D♭, which is a tone 100 cents sharper than C, and then by both tones together.
  Melodically, this interval is very frequently used, and is of particular importance in cadences.  In the perfect and deceptive cadences it appears as a resolution of the leading-tone to the tonic.  In the plagal cadence, it appears as the falling of the subdominant to the mediant.  It also occurs in many forms of the imperfect cadence, wherever the tonic falls to the leading-tone.
  Harmonically, the interval usually occurs as some form of dissonance or a nonchord tone that is not part of the functional harmony. It may also appear in inversions of a major seventh chord, and in many added tone chords.
  
  In unusual situations, the minor second can add a great deal of character to the music. For instance, Frédéric Chopin's Étude Op. 25, No. 5 opens with a melody accompanied by a line that plays fleeting minor seconds. These are used to humorous and whimsical effect, which contrasts with its more lyrical middle section. This eccentric dissonance has earned the piece its nickname: the "wrong note" étude. This kind of usage of the minor second appears in many other works of the Romantic period, such as Modest Mussorgsky's Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks. More recently, the music to the movie Jaws exemplifies the minor second.
caption: A harmonic minor second in J.S. Bach's Prelude in C major from the WTC book 1, mm. 7–9. About this soundPlay (help·info) The minor second may be viewed as a suspension of the B resolving into the following A minor seventh chord.
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