Scientific pitch notation creates a linear pitch space in which an octave spans 12 semitones, where each semitone is the distance between adjacent keys of the piano keyboard. Distance in this space corresponds to musical pitch distance in an equal-tempered scale; 2 semitones being a whole step, 1 semitone being a half step. An equal-tempered semitone can also be subdivided further into 100 cents. Each cent is semitone or octave. This measure of pitch allows the expression of "microtones" not found on standard piano keyboards. The notation is sometimes used in the context of meantone temperament, and does not always assume equal temperament
Octave glissando Octave glissando An octave glissando is a glissando played on the piano by maintaining a constant distance of an octave between the thumb and finger used to execute it, and shifting the whole hand in the direction of the glissando. Due to the positions of the thumbs on the player's hands, octave glissandos are almost always executed upwards with the left hand and downwards with the right. However, exceptions include Balakirev's "Islamey", where players are instructed to execute the glissando upwards across three octaves with their right hands in the "Tempo di Trepak" section. Due to the slight damage (and