RE: [Harp-L] Why do they call them half steps and whole steps?

[Patrick Killeen <patrickkilleen@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I can't add anything to Winslow's explanation but here's an analogy 
that might help with the question of where these seemingly illogical 
terms come from.  
 
Music notation is a lot like a really old house which each successive 
owner has extended and changed, you end up oddly shaped rooms, uneven 
floors, awkward layouts and puzzling features like huge fireplace in 
tiny rooms. It's not a building any architect would deliberately 
design.
 
Over the years musical practices have changes so the language needed 
to talk about music has changed and extended picking up quirks and 
contradictions as it goes along.  The result is a hodgepodge of words, 
symbols and ideas that have accumulated over time and continents,
with the result that although music notation may initially appear 
logical and well ordered when you look closer it's just as messy 
and inconsistent as a language like English.
 
Patrick

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> Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:38:53 -0500
> From: michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxxxxxx
> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [Harp-L] Why do they call them half steps and whole steps?
>
> I've been stumped by a student yet again. WHere did these terms come
> from? Why would you not call one note's distance, one whole step?
> Why is one note's distance one half step?
> Thanks,
> Michael Rubin
> MIchaelrubinharmonica.com