Note
Encyclopedia
In music
, the term note has two primary meanings:
Notes are the "atoms" of much Western music: discretizations of musical phenomena that facilitate performance, comprehension, and analysis
.
The term "note" can be used in both generic and specific senses: one might say either "the piece 'Happy Birthday to You
' begins with two notes having the same pitch," or "the piece begins with two repetitions of the same note." In the former case, one uses "note" to refer to a specific musical event; in the latter, one uses the term to refer to a class of events sharing the same pitch.
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in a ratio of any power of two (e.g. half, twice, or four times) are perceived as very similar. Because of that, all notes with these kinds of relations can be grouped under the same pitch class
. In traditional music theory pitch classes are represented by the first seven letters of the Latin alphabet (A, B, C, D, E, F and G) (some countries use other names as in the table below). The eighth note, or octave
is given the same name as the first, but has double its frequency. The name octave is also used to indicate the span of notes having a frequency ratio of two. To differentiate two notes that have the same pitch class but fall into different octaves, the system of scientific pitch notation
combines a letter name with an Arabic numeral designating a specific octave. For example, the now-standard tuning pitch for most Western music, 440 Hz, is named a′ or A4. There are two formal ways to define each note and octave, the Helmholtz system
and the Scientific pitch notation
.
. A sharp
raises a note by a semitone
or half-step, and a flat lowers it by the same amount. In modern tuning
a half step has a frequency ratio of
, approximately 1.059. The accidentals are written after the note name: so, for example, F represents F-sharp, B is B-flat.
Additional accidentals are the double-sharp , raising the frequency by two semitones, and double-flat , lowering it by that amount.
In musical notation, accidentals are placed before the note symbols. Systematic alterations to the seven lettered pitches in the scale can be indicated by placing the symbols in the key signature
, which then apply implicitly to all occurrences of corresponding notes. Explicitly noted accidentals can be used to override this effect for the remainder of a bar. A special accidental, the natural
symbol , is used to indicate an unmodified pitch. Effects of key signature and local accidentals do not cumulate. If the key signature indicates G-sharp, a local flat before a G makes it G-flat (not G natural), though often this type of rare accidental is expressed as a natural, followed by a flat to make this clear. Likewise (and more commonly), a double sharp sign on a key signature with a single sharp indicates only a double sharp, not a triple sharp.
Assuming enharmonic
ity, many accidentals will create equivalences between pitches that are written differently. For instance, raising the note B to B is equal to the note C. Assuming all such equivalences, the complete chromatic scale
adds five additional pitch classes to the original seven lettered notes for a total of 12 (the 13th note completing the octave
), each separated by a half-step.
Notes that belong to the diatonic scale
relevant in the context are sometimes called diatonic notes; notes that do not meet that criterion are then sometimes called chromatic notes.
Another style of notation, rarely used in English, uses the suffix "is" to indicate a sharp and "es" (only "s" after A and E) for a flat, e.g. Fis for F, Ges for G, Es for E. This system first arose in Germany and is used in almost all European countries whose main language is not English or a Romance language.
In most countries using this system, the letter H is used to represent what is B natural in English, the letter B represents the B, and Heses represents the B (not Bes, which would also have fit into the system). Belgium and the Netherlands use the same suffixes, but applied throughout to the notes A to G, so that B is Bes. Denmark also uses H, but uses bes instead of heses for B.
This is a complete chart of a chromatic scale built on the note C4, or "middle C":
) system centers on the great octave (with capital letters) and small octave (with lower case letters). Lower octaves are named "contra" (with primes before), higher ones "lined" (with primes after). Another system (scientific
) suffixes a number (starting with 0, or sometimes -1). In this system A4 is nowadays standardised to 440 Hz, lying in the octave containing notes from C4 (middle C) to B4. The lowest note on most pianos is A0, the highest C8. The MIDI system for electronic musical instruments and computers uses a straight count starting with note 0 for C-1 at 8.1758 Hz up to note 127 for G9 at 12,544 Hz.
, a code that determines the note's relative duration. In order of halving duration, we have: double note (breve)
; whole note (semibreve)
; half note (minim)
; quarter note (crotchet)
; eighth note (quaver)
; sixteenth note (semiquaver)
. Smaller still are the thirty-second note (demisemiquaver)
, sixty-fourth note (hemidemisemiquaver)
, and hundred twenty-eighth note (semihemidemisemiquaver)
.
When notes are written out in a score
, each note is assigned a specific vertical position on a staff position (a line or a space) on the staff, as determined by the clef
. Each line or space is assigned a note name. These names are memorized by musician
s and allow them to know at a glance the proper pitch to play on their instruments for each note-head marked on the page.
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The staff above shows the notes C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C and then in reverse order, with no key signature or accidentals.
. Since the physical causes of music are vibrations of mechanical systems, they are often measured in hertz
(Hz), with 1 Hz = 1 complete vibration per second. For historical and other reasons, especially in Western music, only twelve notes of fixed frequencies are used. These fixed frequencies are mathematically related to each other, and are defined around the central note, A4. The current "standard pitch" or modern "concert pitch
" for this note is 440 Hz, although this varies in actual practice (see History of pitch standards).
The note-naming convention specifies a letter, any accidentals
(sharps/flats), and an octave number. Any note is an integer
of half-steps away from middle A (A4). Let this distance be denoted n. If the note is above A4, then n is positive; if it is below A4, then n is negative. The frequency of the note (f) (assuming equal temperament
) is then:
For example, one can find the frequency of C5, the first C above A4. There are 3 half-steps between A4 and C5 (A4 → A4 → B4 → C5), and the note is above A4, so n = +3. The note's frequency is:
To find the frequency of a note below A4, the value of n is negative. For example, the F below A4 is F4. There are 4 half-steps (A4 → A4 → G4 → G4 → F4), and the note is below A4, so n = −4. The note's frequency is:
Finally, it can be seen from this formula that octaves automatically yield factors of two times the original frequency, since n is therefore a multiple of 12 (12k, where k is the number of octaves up or down), and so the formula reduces to:
yielding a factor of 2. In fact, this is the means by which this formula is derived, combined with the notion of equally-spaced intervals.
The distance of an equally tempered semitone is divided into 100 cents
. So 1200 cents are equal to one octave — a frequency ratio of 2:1. This means that a cent is precisely equal to the 1200th root of 2, which is approximately 1.000578.
For use with the MIDI
(Musical Instrument Digital Interface) standard, a frequency mapping is defined by:
For notes in an A440 equal temperament, this formula delivers the standard MIDI note number. Any other frequencies fill the space between the whole numbers evenly. This allows MIDI instruments to be tuned very accurately in any microtuning scale, including non-western traditional tunings.
for centuries. The 6th century philosopher Boethius
is known to have used the first fifteen letters of the alphabet to signify the notes of the two-octave range that was in use at the time. Though it is not known whether this was his devising or common usage at the time, this is nonetheless called Boethian notation.
Following this, the system of repeating letters A-G in each octave was introduced, these being written as minuscules for the second octave (a-g) and double minuscules for the third (aa-gg). When the compass of used notes was extended down by one note, to a G, it was given the Greek G (Γ), gamma
. (It is from this that the French word for scale, gamme is derived, and the English word gamut
, from "Gamma-Ut", the lowest note in Medieval music notation.)
The remaining five notes of the chromatic scale (the black keys on a piano keyboard) were added gradually; the first being B, which was flattened in certain modes to avoid the dissonant tritone
interval. This change was not always shown in notation, but when written, B (B-flat) was written as a Latin, round "b", and B (B-natural) a Gothic
or "hard-edged" b. These evolved into the modern flat and natural symbols respectively. The sharp symbol arose from a barred b, called the "cancelled b".
In parts of Europe, including Germany
, the Czech Republic
, Poland
, Hungary
, Norway
, Finland
, and Russia
, the natural symbol transformed into the letter H (possibly for hart, German for hard): in German music notation, H is B (B-natural) and B is B (B-flat). Occasionally, music written in German for international use will use H for B-natural and Bb for B-flat (with a modern-script lowercase b instead of a flat sign). Since a Bes or B in Northern Europe (i.e. a B elsewhere) is both rare and unorthodox (more likely to be expressed as Heses), it is generally clear what this notation means.
In Italian, Portuguese, Greek, French, Russian, Flemish, Romanian, Spanish, Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, Bulgarian and Turkish notation the notes of scales are given in terms of Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Si rather than C-D-E-F-G-A-B. These names follow the original names reputedly given by Guido d'Arezzo, who had taken them from the first syllables of the first six musical phrases of a Gregorian Chant
melody Ut queant laxis
, which began on the appropriate scale degrees. These became the basis of the solfege
system. "Do" later replaced the original "Ut" for ease of singing (most likely from the beginning of Dominus, Lord), though "Ut" is still used in some places. "Si" or "Ti" was added as the seventh degree (from Sancte Johannes, St. John, to whom the hymn is dedicated). The use of 'Si' versus 'Ti' varies regionally.
In a newly developed system, primarily in use in the United States, notes of scales become independent to the music notation. In this system the natural symbols C-D-E-F-G-A-B refer to the absolute notes, while the names Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti are relativized and show only the relationship between pitches, where Do is the name of the base pitch of the scale, Re is the name of the second pitch, etc. The idea of so called movable-do, originally suggested by John Curwen
in the 19th century, was fully developed and involved into a whole educational system by Zoltán Kodály
in the middle of the 20th century, which system is known as the Kodály Method
or Kodály Concept.
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, the term note has two primary meanings:
- A sign used in musical notationMusical notationMusic notation or musical notation is any system that represents aurally perceived music, through the use of written symbols.-History:...
to represent the relative duration and pitchPitch (music)Pitch is an auditory perceptual property that allows the ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale.Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies,...
of a soundSoundSound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.-Propagation of...
; - A pitched sound itself.
Notes are the "atoms" of much Western music: discretizations of musical phenomena that facilitate performance, comprehension, and analysis
Musical analysis
Musical analysis is the attempt to answer the question how does this music work?. The method employed to answer this question, and indeed exactly what is meant by the question, differs from analyst to analyst, and according to the purpose of the analysis. According to Ian Bent , analysis is "an...
.
The term "note" can be used in both generic and specific senses: one might say either "the piece 'Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday to You
"Happy Birthday to You", also known more simply as "Happy Birthday", is a song that is traditionally sung to celebrate the anniversary of a person's birth...
' begins with two notes having the same pitch," or "the piece begins with two repetitions of the same note." In the former case, one uses "note" to refer to a specific musical event; in the latter, one uses the term to refer to a class of events sharing the same pitch.
Note name
Two notes with fundamental frequenciesFundamental frequency
The fundamental frequency, often referred to simply as the fundamental and abbreviated f0, is defined as the lowest frequency of a periodic waveform. In terms of a superposition of sinusoids The fundamental frequency, often referred to simply as the fundamental and abbreviated f0, is defined as the...
in a ratio of any power of two (e.g. half, twice, or four times) are perceived as very similar. Because of that, all notes with these kinds of relations can be grouped under the same pitch class
Pitch class
In music, a pitch class is a set of all pitches that are a whole number of octaves apart, e.g., the pitch class C consists of the Cs in all octaves...
. In traditional music theory pitch classes are represented by the first seven letters of the Latin alphabet (A, B, C, D, E, F and G) (some countries use other names as in the table below). The eighth note, or octave
Octave
In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...
is given the same name as the first, but has double its frequency. The name octave is also used to indicate the span of notes having a frequency ratio of two. To differentiate two notes that have the same pitch class but fall into different octaves, the system of scientific pitch notation
Scientific pitch notation
Scientific pitch notation is one of several methods that name the notes of the standard Western chromatic scale by combining a letter-name, accidentals, and a number identifying the pitch's octave...
combines a letter name with an Arabic numeral designating a specific octave. For example, the now-standard tuning pitch for most Western music, 440 Hz, is named a′ or A4. There are two formal ways to define each note and octave, the Helmholtz system
Helmholtz pitch notation
Helmholtz pitch notation is a musical system for naming notes of the Western chromatic scale. Developed by the German scientist Hermann von Helmholtz, it uses a combination of upper and lower case letters , and the sub- and super-prime symbols to describe each individual note of the scale...
and the Scientific pitch notation
Scientific pitch notation
Scientific pitch notation is one of several methods that name the notes of the standard Western chromatic scale by combining a letter-name, accidentals, and a number identifying the pitch's octave...
.
Accidentals
Letter names are modified by the accidentalsAccidental (music)
In music, an accidental is a note whose pitch is not a member of a scale or mode indicated by the most recently applied key signature. In musical notation, the symbols used to mark such notes, sharps , flats , and naturals , may also be called accidentals...
. A sharp
Sharp (music)
In music, sharp, dièse , or diesis means higher in pitch and the sharp symbol raises a note by a half tone. Intonation may be flat, sharp, or both, successively or simultaneously...
raises a note by a semitone
Semitone
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....
or half-step, and a flat lowers it by the same amount. In modern tuning
Equal temperament
An equal temperament is a musical temperament, or a system of tuning, in which every pair of adjacent notes has an identical frequency ratio. As pitch is perceived roughly as the logarithm of frequency, this means that the perceived "distance" from every note to its nearest neighbor is the same for...
a half step has a frequency ratio of
, approximately 1.059. The accidentals are written after the note name: so, for example, F represents F-sharp, B is B-flat.Additional accidentals are the double-sharp , raising the frequency by two semitones, and double-flat , lowering it by that amount.
In musical notation, accidentals are placed before the note symbols. Systematic alterations to the seven lettered pitches in the scale can be indicated by placing the symbols in the key signature
Key signature
In musical notation, a key signature is a series of sharp or flat symbols placed on the staff, designating notes that are to be consistently played one semitone higher or lower than the equivalent natural notes unless otherwise altered with an accidental...
, which then apply implicitly to all occurrences of corresponding notes. Explicitly noted accidentals can be used to override this effect for the remainder of a bar. A special accidental, the natural
Natural (music)
In music theory, a natural is an accidental which cancels previous accidentals and represents the unaltered pitch of a note.A note is natural when it is neither flat nor sharp . Natural notes are the notes A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, and are represented by the white notes on the keyboard of a piano...
symbol , is used to indicate an unmodified pitch. Effects of key signature and local accidentals do not cumulate. If the key signature indicates G-sharp, a local flat before a G makes it G-flat (not G natural), though often this type of rare accidental is expressed as a natural, followed by a flat to make this clear. Likewise (and more commonly), a double sharp sign on a key signature with a single sharp indicates only a double sharp, not a triple sharp.
Assuming enharmonic
Enharmonic
In modern musical notation and tuning, an enharmonic equivalent is a note , interval , or key signature which is equivalent to some other note, interval, or key signature, but "spelled", or named, differently...
ity, many accidentals will create equivalences between pitches that are written differently. For instance, raising the note B to B is equal to the note C. Assuming all such equivalences, the complete chromatic scale
Chromatic scale
The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone apart. On a modern piano or other equal-tempered instrument, all the half steps are the same size...
adds five additional pitch classes to the original seven lettered notes for a total of 12 (the 13th note completing the octave
Octave
In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...
), each separated by a half-step.
Notes that belong to the diatonic scale
Diatonic scale
In music theory, a diatonic scale is a seven note, octave-repeating musical scale comprising five whole steps and two half steps for each octave, in which the two half steps are separated from each other by either two or three whole steps...
relevant in the context are sometimes called diatonic notes; notes that do not meet that criterion are then sometimes called chromatic notes.
Another style of notation, rarely used in English, uses the suffix "is" to indicate a sharp and "es" (only "s" after A and E) for a flat, e.g. Fis for F, Ges for G, Es for E. This system first arose in Germany and is used in almost all European countries whose main language is not English or a Romance language.
In most countries using this system, the letter H is used to represent what is B natural in English, the letter B represents the B, and Heses represents the B (not Bes, which would also have fit into the system). Belgium and the Netherlands use the same suffixes, but applied throughout to the notes A to G, so that B is Bes. Denmark also uses H, but uses bes instead of heses for B.
This is a complete chart of a chromatic scale built on the note C4, or "middle C":
| Style | Type | prime | second | third | fourth | fifth | sixth | seventh | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English name | Natural | C | D | E | F | G | A | B | |||||
| Sharp | C sharp | D sharp | F sharp | G sharp | A sharp | ||||||||
| Flat | D flat | E flat | G flat | A flat | B flat | ||||||||
| Symbol | Sharp | C | D | F | G | A | |||||||
| Flat | D | E | G | A | B | ||||||||
| Northern European name | Natural | C | D | E | F | G | A | H | |||||
| Sharp | Cis | Dis | Fis | Gis | Ais | ||||||||
| Flat | Des | Es | Ges | As | B | ||||||||
| Dutch name (sometimes used in Scandinavia after 1990s) | Natural | C | D | E | F | G | A | B | |||||
| Sharp | Cis | Dis | Fis | Gis | Ais | ||||||||
| Flat | Des | Es | Ges | As | Bes | ||||||||
| Byzantine | Natural | Ni | Pa | Vu | Ga | Di | Ke | Zo- | |||||
| Sharp | Ni diesis (or diez) | Pa diesis | Ga diesis | Di diesis | Ke diesis | ||||||||
| Flat | Pa hyphesis | Vu hyphesis | Di hyphesis | Ke hyphesis | Zo hyphesis | ||||||||
| Latin America, Italian, French, Southern & Eastern European | Natural | Do | Re | Mi | Fa | Sol | La | Si | |||||
| Sharp | Do diesis | Re diesis | Fa diesis | Sol diesis | La diesis | ||||||||
| Flat | Re bemolle | Mi bemolle | Sol bemolle | La bemolle | Si bemolle | ||||||||
| Variant names | Ut | - | - | - | So | - | Ti | ||||||
| Japanese | ハ Ha | ニ Ni | ホ Ho | ヘ He | トTo | イ I | ロ Ro | ||||||
| Indian style | Sa | Re Komal | Re | Ga Komal | Ga | Ma | Ma Teevra/Prati | Pa | Dha Komal | Dha | Ni Komal | Ni | |
| Approx. Frequency [Hz] | 262 | 277 | 294 | 311 | 330 | 349 | 370 | 392 | 415 | 440 | 466 | 494 | |
| MIDI note number | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 |
Note designation in accordance with octave name
The table of each octave and the frequencies for every note of pitch class A is shown below. The traditional (HelmholtzHelmholtz pitch notation
Helmholtz pitch notation is a musical system for naming notes of the Western chromatic scale. Developed by the German scientist Hermann von Helmholtz, it uses a combination of upper and lower case letters , and the sub- and super-prime symbols to describe each individual note of the scale...
) system centers on the great octave (with capital letters) and small octave (with lower case letters). Lower octaves are named "contra" (with primes before), higher ones "lined" (with primes after). Another system (scientific
Scientific pitch notation
Scientific pitch notation is one of several methods that name the notes of the standard Western chromatic scale by combining a letter-name, accidentals, and a number identifying the pitch's octave...
) suffixes a number (starting with 0, or sometimes -1). In this system A4 is nowadays standardised to 440 Hz, lying in the octave containing notes from C4 (middle C) to B4. The lowest note on most pianos is A0, the highest C8. The MIDI system for electronic musical instruments and computers uses a straight count starting with note 0 for C-1 at 8.1758 Hz up to note 127 for G9 at 12,544 Hz.
| Octave naming systems | frequency of A A (musical note) La or A is the sixth note of the solfège. "A" is generally used as a standard for tuning. When the orchestra tunes, the oboe plays an "A" and the rest of the instruments tune to match that pitch. Every string instrument in the orchestra has an A string, from which each player can tune the rest of... (Hz) |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| traditional | shorthand | numbered | MIDI nr | |
| subsubcontra | C͵͵͵ – B͵͵͵ | C-1 – B-1 | 0 – 11 | 13.75 |
| sub-contra | C͵͵ – B͵͵ | C0 – B0 | 12 – 23 | 27.5 |
| contra | C͵ – B͵ | C1 – B1 | 24 – 35 | 55 |
| great | C – B | C2 – B2 | 36 – 47 | 110 |
| small | c – b | C3 – B3 | 48 – 59 | 220 |
| one-lined | c′ – b′ | C4 – B4 | 60 – 71 | 440 |
| two-lined | c′′ – b′′ | C5 – B5 | 72 – 83 | 880 |
| three-lined | c′′′ – b′′′ | C6 – B6 | 84 – 95 | 1760 |
| four-lined | c′′′′ – b′′′′ | C7 – B7 | 96 – 107 | 3520 |
| five-lined | c′′′′′ – b′′′′′ | C8 – B8 | 108 – 119 | 7040 |
| six-lined | c′′′′′′ – b′′′′′′ | C9 – B9 | 120 – 127 up to G9 |
14080 |
Written notes
A written note can also have a note valueNote value
In music notation, a note value indicates the relative duration of a note, using the color or shape of the note head, the presence or absence of a stem, and the presence or absence of flags/beams/hooks/tails....
, a code that determines the note's relative duration. In order of halving duration, we have: double note (breve)
Double whole note
In music, a double whole note or breve is a note lasting twice as long as a whole note...
; whole note (semibreve)
Whole note
thumb|right|250px|Figure 1. A whole note and a whole rest.In music, a whole note or semibreve is a note represented by a hollow oval note head, like a half note , and no note stem . Its length is equal to four beats in 4/4 time...
; half note (minim)
Half note
In music, a half note or minim is a note played for half the duration of a whole note and twice the duration of a quarter note...
; quarter note (crotchet)
Quarter note
A quarter note or crotchet is a note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note . Often people will say that a crotchet is one beat, however, this is not always correct, as the beat is indicated by the time signature of the music; a quarter note may or may not be the beat...
; eighth note (quaver)
Eighth note
thumb|180px|right|Figure 1. An eighth note with stem facing up, an eighth note with stem facing down, and an eighth rest.thumb|right|180px|Figure 2. Four eighth notes beamed together....
; sixteenth note (semiquaver)
Sixteenth note
thumb|right|Figure 1. A sixteenth note with stem facing up, a sixteenth note with stem facing down, and a sixteenth rest.thumb|right|Figure 2. Four sixteenth notes beamed together....
. Smaller still are the thirty-second note (demisemiquaver)
Thirty-second note
In music, a thirty-second note or demisemiquaver is a note played for 1/32 of the duration of a whole note...
, sixty-fourth note (hemidemisemiquaver)
Sixty-fourth note
In music notation, a sixty-fourth note or hemidemisemiquaver is a note played for 1/64 of the duration of a whole note . It lasts half as long as a thirty-second note ....
, and hundred twenty-eighth note (semihemidemisemiquaver)
Hundred twenty-eighth note
In music, a hundred twenty-eighth note or semihemidemisemiquaver or quasihemidemisemiquaver is a note played for 1/128 of the duration of a whole note . It lasts half as long as a sixty-fourth note . It has a total of five flags or beams.Notes this short are very rare in printed music, but not...
.
When notes are written out in a score
Sheet music
Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens...
, each note is assigned a specific vertical position on a staff position (a line or a space) on the staff, as determined by the clef
Clef
A clef is a musical symbol used to indicate the pitch of written notes. Placed on one of the lines at the beginning of the staff, it indicates the name and pitch of the notes on that line. This line serves as a reference point by which the names of the notes on any other line or space of the staff...
. Each line or space is assigned a note name. These names are memorized by musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
s and allow them to know at a glance the proper pitch to play on their instruments for each note-head marked on the page.
Note frequency (hertz)
In all technicality, music can be composed of notes at any arbitrary frequencyFrequency
Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. It is also referred to as temporal frequency.The period is the duration of one cycle in a repeating event, so the period is the reciprocal of the frequency...
. Since the physical causes of music are vibrations of mechanical systems, they are often measured in hertz
Hertz
The hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications....
(Hz), with 1 Hz = 1 complete vibration per second. For historical and other reasons, especially in Western music, only twelve notes of fixed frequencies are used. These fixed frequencies are mathematically related to each other, and are defined around the central note, A4. The current "standard pitch" or modern "concert pitch
Concert pitch
Concert pitch refers to the pitch reference to which a group of musical instruments are tuned for a performance. Concert pitch may vary from ensemble to ensemble, and has varied widely over musical history...
" for this note is 440 Hz, although this varies in actual practice (see History of pitch standards).
The note-naming convention specifies a letter, any accidentals
Accidental (music)
In music, an accidental is a note whose pitch is not a member of a scale or mode indicated by the most recently applied key signature. In musical notation, the symbols used to mark such notes, sharps , flats , and naturals , may also be called accidentals...
(sharps/flats), and an octave number. Any note is an integer
Integer
The integers are formed by the natural numbers together with the negatives of the non-zero natural numbers .They are known as Positive and Negative Integers respectively...
of half-steps away from middle A (A4). Let this distance be denoted n. If the note is above A4, then n is positive; if it is below A4, then n is negative. The frequency of the note (f) (assuming equal temperament
Equal temperament
An equal temperament is a musical temperament, or a system of tuning, in which every pair of adjacent notes has an identical frequency ratio. As pitch is perceived roughly as the logarithm of frequency, this means that the perceived "distance" from every note to its nearest neighbor is the same for...
) is then:
For example, one can find the frequency of C5, the first C above A4. There are 3 half-steps between A4 and C5 (A4 → A4 → B4 → C5), and the note is above A4, so n = +3. The note's frequency is:
To find the frequency of a note below A4, the value of n is negative. For example, the F below A4 is F4. There are 4 half-steps (A4 → A4 → G4 → G4 → F4), and the note is below A4, so n = −4. The note's frequency is:
Finally, it can be seen from this formula that octaves automatically yield factors of two times the original frequency, since n is therefore a multiple of 12 (12k, where k is the number of octaves up or down), and so the formula reduces to:
yielding a factor of 2. In fact, this is the means by which this formula is derived, combined with the notion of equally-spaced intervals.
The distance of an equally tempered semitone is divided into 100 cents
Cent (music)
The cent is a logarithmic unit of measure used for musical intervals. Twelve-tone equal temperament divides the octave into 12 semitones of 100 cents each...
. So 1200 cents are equal to one octave — a frequency ratio of 2:1. This means that a cent is precisely equal to the 1200th root of 2, which is approximately 1.000578.
For use with the MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface
MIDI is an industry-standard protocol, first defined in 1982 by Gordon Hall, that enables electronic musical instruments , computers and other electronic equipment to communicate and synchronize with each other...
(Musical Instrument Digital Interface) standard, a frequency mapping is defined by:
For notes in an A440 equal temperament, this formula delivers the standard MIDI note number. Any other frequencies fill the space between the whole numbers evenly. This allows MIDI instruments to be tuned very accurately in any microtuning scale, including non-western traditional tunings.
History of note names
Music notation systems have used letters of the alphabetAlphabet
An alphabet is a standard set of letters—basic written symbols or graphemes—each of which represents a phoneme in a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past. There are other systems, such as logographies, in which each character represents a word, morpheme, or semantic...
for centuries. The 6th century philosopher Boethius
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius, commonly called Boethius was a philosopher of the early 6th century. He was born in Rome to an ancient and important family which included emperors Petronius Maximus and Olybrius and many consuls. His father, Flavius Manlius Boethius, was consul in 487 after...
is known to have used the first fifteen letters of the alphabet to signify the notes of the two-octave range that was in use at the time. Though it is not known whether this was his devising or common usage at the time, this is nonetheless called Boethian notation.
Following this, the system of repeating letters A-G in each octave was introduced, these being written as minuscules for the second octave (a-g) and double minuscules for the third (aa-gg). When the compass of used notes was extended down by one note, to a G, it was given the Greek G (Γ), gamma
Gamma
Gamma is the third letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 3. It was derived from the Phoenician letter Gimel . Letters that arose from Gamma include the Roman C and G and the Cyrillic letters Ge Г and Ghe Ґ.-Greek:In Ancient Greek, gamma represented a...
. (It is from this that the French word for scale, gamme is derived, and the English word gamut
Hexachord
In music, a hexachord is a collection of six pitch classes including six-note segments of a scale or tone row. The term was adopted in the Middle Ages and adapted in the twentieth-century in Milton Babbitt's serial theory.-Middle Ages:...
, from "Gamma-Ut", the lowest note in Medieval music notation.)
The remaining five notes of the chromatic scale (the black keys on a piano keyboard) were added gradually; the first being B, which was flattened in certain modes to avoid the dissonant tritone
Tritone
In classical music from Western culture, the tritone |tone]]) is traditionally defined as a musical interval composed of three whole tones. In a chromatic scale, each whole tone can be further divided into two semitones...
interval. This change was not always shown in notation, but when written, B (B-flat) was written as a Latin, round "b", and B (B-natural) a Gothic
Gothic alphabet
The Gothic alphabet is an alphabet for writing the Gothic language, created in the 4th century by Ulfilas for the purpose of translating the Christian Bible....
or "hard-edged" b. These evolved into the modern flat and natural symbols respectively. The sharp symbol arose from a barred b, called the "cancelled b".
In parts of Europe, including Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, the natural symbol transformed into the letter H (possibly for hart, German for hard): in German music notation, H is B (B-natural) and B is B (B-flat). Occasionally, music written in German for international use will use H for B-natural and Bb for B-flat (with a modern-script lowercase b instead of a flat sign). Since a Bes or B in Northern Europe (i.e. a B elsewhere) is both rare and unorthodox (more likely to be expressed as Heses), it is generally clear what this notation means.
In Italian, Portuguese, Greek, French, Russian, Flemish, Romanian, Spanish, Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, Bulgarian and Turkish notation the notes of scales are given in terms of Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Si rather than C-D-E-F-G-A-B. These names follow the original names reputedly given by Guido d'Arezzo, who had taken them from the first syllables of the first six musical phrases of a Gregorian Chant
Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic liturgical music within Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services...
melody Ut queant laxis
Ut queant laxis
Ut queant laxis or Hymnus in Ioannem are verses in honour of John the Baptist written in Horatian Sapphics by Paulus Diaconus, the eighth century Lombard historian...
, which began on the appropriate scale degrees. These became the basis of the solfege
Solfege
In music, solfège is a pedagogical solmization technique for the teaching of sight-singing in which each note of the score is sung to a special syllable, called a solfège syllable...
system. "Do" later replaced the original "Ut" for ease of singing (most likely from the beginning of Dominus, Lord), though "Ut" is still used in some places. "Si" or "Ti" was added as the seventh degree (from Sancte Johannes, St. John, to whom the hymn is dedicated). The use of 'Si' versus 'Ti' varies regionally.
In a newly developed system, primarily in use in the United States, notes of scales become independent to the music notation. In this system the natural symbols C-D-E-F-G-A-B refer to the absolute notes, while the names Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti are relativized and show only the relationship between pitches, where Do is the name of the base pitch of the scale, Re is the name of the second pitch, etc. The idea of so called movable-do, originally suggested by John Curwen
John Curwen
Reverend John Curwen was an English Congregationalist minister, and founder of the Tonic sol-fa system of music education. He was educated at Wymondley College and University College London.-Tonic sol-fa:...
in the 19th century, was fully developed and involved into a whole educational system by Zoltán Kodály
Zoltán Kodály
Zoltán Kodály was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is best known internationally as the creator of the Kodály Method.-Life:Born in Kecskemét, Kodály learned to play the violin as a child....
in the middle of the 20th century, which system is known as the Kodály Method
Kodály Method
The Kodály Method, also referred to as the Kodály Concept, is an approach to music education developed in Hungary during the mid-twentieth century by Zoltán Kodály...
or Kodály Concept.
See also
- Mathematics of musical scales
- Diatonic and chromaticDiatonic and chromaticDiatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize scales, and are also applied to intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony...
- Ghost noteGhost noteGhost notes are musical notes occurring in a rhythmic figure which are purposely deemphasized, often to the point of near silence. In popular music drumming these notes are played, "very softly between the 'main' notes," most often on the snare drum in a drum kit.A rhythmic figure may be punctuated...
- Grace noteGrace noteA grace note is a kind of music notation used to denote several kinds of musical ornaments. When occurring by itself, a single grace note normally indicates the intention of either an appoggiatura or an acciaccatura...
- Money noteMoney noteA money note is a music industry slang term which refers to a part of a live or recorded singing performance which is subjectively judged to be very dramatic or emotionally stirring...
- Musical temperamentMusical temperamentIn musical tuning, a temperament is a system of tuning which slightly compromises the pure intervals of just intonation in order to meet other requirements of the system. Most instruments in modern Western music are tuned in the equal temperament system...
- Note valueNote valueIn music notation, a note value indicates the relative duration of a note, using the color or shape of the note head, the presence or absence of a stem, and the presence or absence of flags/beams/hooks/tails....
- PensatoPensatoIn music, a pensato is a composed imaginary note, a written note which is not played or heard.Anton Webern is credited by some with the first use of pensatos, while others argue he did not use them at all...
- Piano key frequenciesPiano key frequenciesThis is a virtual keyboard showing the absolute frequencies in hertz of the notes on a modern piano in twelve-tone equal temperament, with the 49th key, the fifth A , tuned to 440 Hz...
- SolfegeSolfegeIn music, solfège is a pedagogical solmization technique for the teaching of sight-singing in which each note of the score is sung to a special syllable, called a solfège syllable...
- Universal keyUniversal keyThe universal key or universal scale is a concept employed in music theory in which specific notes or chord symbols in a key signature are replaced with numbers or Roman numerals, allowing for a discussion describing relationships between notes or chords that can be universally applied to all key...