The term "maqam" has various shades of meaning. On the most basic level, a maqam is a musical scale. A few of these consist of steps of a whole tone and half a tone in the same way as the Western diatonic scale. Others also admit steps of one and a half tones, like the Western harmonic minor and the "steiger" of Ashkenazic cantorial practice. The majority include one or more three-quarter tone steps, this being the distinguishing characteristic of Arabic and other Middle Eastern music.