Step - Definition and Overview

See also: Dance step, Stairway.

In music, a step is a linear interval between two pitches which are consecutive scale degrees; conjuct melodic motion, which in a diatonic scale is either a minor second or major second. More generally it is a smaller or narrower interval in a musical line. The opposite is skip. Scale steps, or their size, are determined by the tuning system and the pitch space used.

For example, C to D is a step, whereas C to E is a skip.

Linear motion 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 motion.

Example Usage of Step