WixiPepiA Musical note ‘In music, a note isthe piteh and duration of sound, and also its representation in musical notation (2, 1). A note can also represent a pitch class [Notes are the building blocks of much written 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 ether "he piece ‘Happy Biethday to You' begins with two notes having the same pitch’, or "the piece begins with two repetitions ofthe same note". Inthe former ease, one uses note to refer toa specific musical event; in ‘the later, one uses the term to refer toa class of events sharing the same pitch. (Soe also: Key signature names and translations.) ‘Two notes with fundamental frequencies in a ratio equal to any integer power of two (ex, balf, ‘ice, or four times) are perceived as very similar. Because of that, all notes with these kinds of ‘relations ean be grouped under the same pitch cass. In traditional music theory, most countries in the world use the naming convention Do~Re-Mi~Fa— Sol-La-Si, including for instance Italy, Portugal, Spatn, France, Romania, most Latin American countries, Grovee, Bulgaria, Turkey, Russia, and all the Arabic-speaking or Persian-speaking countries. However, within the English-speaking and Duteh-speaking, world, piteh classes are typically represented by the frst seven letters of the Latin alphabet (A, 8, C, D, E, F and G). A few European countries, including Germany, adopt an almost identical notation, in which H substitutes {or (ee below for details). In Indian music the Sanskrit names S8-Re-Ga-Ma-Pa-Dha-Ni is used, as in Telugu Sa-Re-Ga-Ma-PacDa-Ni (8 6 ff ao 6), and in Tamil (G-1-55-10-L-5-5) Byzantium used the names pa-wi-gardike-20-ni ‘The nate A or La tte The eighth note, or octave, is given the sume name asthe first, but has double its frequency, The name octave is also used to indicate the span between a note and another with double frequency. To differentiate two notes that have the same pitch class but fll into different octaves, the system of Names of some notes without scientifie pitch notation combines a letter name with an Arabie numeral designating a specific octave. For accidentals ‘example, the now-standard tuning piteh for most Westera musi, a40 Ha, is named a oF A Rect “There are swo formal systems to define each note and octave, the Helmholtz pitch notation and the seientif pitch notation Contents Accidental. ‘124one chromatic scale Note designation in accordance with octave name Written notes Note frequency (hertz) History of note names See also References Bibliography External inks Accidentals Letter names are modified by the accidentals. A sharp # raises a note by a semitone or half-step, and a flat blowers itby the same amount. fa modern tuning a half step has a frequency ratio of "V3, approximately 1.059. The acidentals are written after the note name: so for example, Fe represents Fesharp, Bis Beflat,and C+ is C natural (or ©. ‘Additional accidentals are the double-sharp 3 raising the frequency by wo semitones, and double-at lowering itby that amount. In musical notation, accidentals ae placed before the note symbols. Systematic alterations tothe seven leered pitches inthe seale can be indicated. by placing the symbols in the key signature, which then epply implicitly to all occurrences of corresponding notes. Explicitly noted accidentals ean be used to override ths effect for the remainder ofa bar. A special accidental, the natural symbol is used to indicate an unmodified pitch. Effects of key signature and local accidentals do not accumulate. Ifthe key signature indicates G2, a local lat before a G makes it Gb (not G:), though often this type of rare accidental is expressed as a natural, followed by a flat (5) to make this clear. Likewise (and more commonly), double sharpstsign on akey signature with a single sharp # indicates only a double sharp, nota tiple sharp, Assuming enharmonicity, many accidentals will ereate equivalences between pitches that are written differently. For instance, raising the note B to Be is equal to ‘the note C. Assuming all such equivalences the complete chromate sale adds five ditional pitch classes tothe original seven lettered notes fora total of (the 1gth note completing the octave), each separated by a half-step. Notes «belong tothe diatonic sale relevant inthe context are sometimes called diatonic notes; notes that do not meet that evterion 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) fora Mat, eg, His for F2, Gos for Gr, Es for Eb. This eystom first arose in Germany and is used in almost all European countries ‘whose main language is not English, Greek, or a Romance language {In most countries using these suffixes, the letter His used to represent what is B natural in English, the letter B is used instead of Bb, and Heses (ie., Hy) is used instead of By (although Bes and Heses both denote the English By. Duteh- Frequency Frequency vs Posiion on Treble Clef. Each note shown has a frequency ofthe previous note multiplied by " speakers in Belgium and the Netherlands use the same suffixes, but applied throughout to the notes Ato G, so that B, B> and By have the same ‘meaning as in English although thoy are called 8, Bes, and Beses instead of BB flat and B double flat. Denmark also uses H, but uses Bes instead of Hoses for i. 12-tone chromatic scale “The following chart ists the names used indifferent countries for the 12 notes ofa chromatic seale built on C, The corresponding symbols are showm within parenthesis, Differences between German and Fnglish nataion ace highlighted in bold typeface. Although the English and Dutch names are different, the corresponding symbols are identical,Names of notes in various languages and counties Nawiog fa |e 3 ais) 6 | 7 je] 6 | wo | n | Chap @ sharp sharp (ce) (Ge) (Ae) English © ° E A 8 tat Atat Bist (D2) (As) (B>) German”! Cis Gis Als eeeain ar, ro ro os) Gabe" se: DKEEF, =| ° Oe ° . r ce | ° | ae ‘ . FU, LY. NO, PL, RS, SK) (0 ey ws 8 Dutch’? Cis Gis (edna, & ro Sometimes in| ° e | 6 A 8 Des es Ges bes © =) of & [Link]®) (used in IT, Do Fa Sol Ladiesis desis dots soe “den (Boe) (Fat) (Sole) " be Re Mo Fa sol la 8 i Re wi sol la 8 Giecisfemolle | bene bemoe emote || bem bemalle are allan Res) ‘i (Sob) ‘Lay (si) Speting Ga ie ides Pa desis co, Didess a eyzant Ni Pa wl oe 01 ke z vz Pa vu Di Ke Zo nyphests yphosts ryptests |__| nypels nyphesis ihe Bal cute Eto cH a | IY =) | ue @ yah ) | po Japanese! ween ce OY eri enn | | MO) eet (Nena) ero | a) en eh) en aac) Inalan Re @ | Ma Dha Ni (Hindusthani) Komal Re Komal Ga Ma Teevra P* Komal ha Komal Ni Chatut | Sachara hatsra | Kaisa Indian ‘Shuddha Ri Ga ‘Antara | Shuddha ‘Shuddha Ona Ni Kakali sa Praia Pa (Carnatic) R ‘Shuddha | Shatsruti_ S# ue Dna —Shudéha | Shatsruti | Ni ce oh Note designation in accordance with octave name ‘The table below shows each octave and the frequencies for every note of pitch class A. The traditional (Helmboltz) system centers on (with capital letters) and small octave (with lower case leters). Lower octaves are named "contra" (with primes before), higher ones "ined" (with primes after). Another system (scientific) suffixes a number (starting with 0, or sometimes ~1). In this system A, is nowadays standardised at 440 Hi, lying inthe octave containing notes from C, (middle C) to B,, The lowest note on most pianos is Ay the highest Cy. The MIDI system for leetronie musica instruments and computers uses a straight count starting with note o for C., at 8.1758 Hu to note 127 for Gy at 12,544 He.Names of octaves (Octave naming systems frequency traditional Helmholtz scientific ‘MIDI of A (Hz) ssweonte | 6,.-8,, |Gy-By) 0-185 sbeonte | C.-B, | Cy-B | 2-23 | 275 conta C=8, | yy mana | reat C-8 | GB 88-47 110 sat cb G8) | 50 evened <¥ G8, wo-ri | 0 womed | emo | sus | 72-63 | 680 teeing | E=b" | Gyn Be | 84-95 1760 fourtnes | eb Gy) | 96-107 3520 veined | e==b™ | Gyn By | T0818 7040 soiree | CyB) | 1205127 4050 Written notes Avwritten note ean also have a note value, a code that determines the note's relative duration. In order of halving duration, they are: double note (reve); whole note (semibreve); half note (ssinim); quarter note (crotch); eighth note (quaver); sixteenth note (semiquaver);thrty-seeond note (emisemiquaver), sxty-fourth note (hemidemisemiquaver), and hundred twenty-eighth note. In a score, each note is assigned a specific vertical position ona staff position (a line or space) on the staf, es determined by the clef Each line oF space is asigned a note name, These names are memorized by musicians and allow them to know at a glance the proper piteh to play on thelr instruments, ‘The staff above shows the notes C,D,E, F, G, A,B, Cand then in reverse order, with no key signature o accidentals Note frequency (hertz) In all technicality, music ean be composed of notes at any arbitrary physial frequency. Since the physical causes of music are vibrations of mechanical systems, they are often measured in hert (2), with 1 Hz meaning one vibration per second, For historical and other reasons, especially in Western muse, only twelve notes of fixed frequencies are used, These fixed frequencies are mathematically related to each ther, and are defined. note, Ay. The current "standard pitch” or modern “concert piteh” for this note is 440 Ilz, although 1 (see History of piteh standards), around the ce is varies in actual practice the not snaming convention specifies a letter, any accidentals, and an octave mumber. Hach note is an integer number of half-steps away from concert A (A,) Lt this distance be denoted n. Ifthe noteis above A, then ns positive; fit is below Ay, then m is negative. The frequency ofthe note ( (assuming equal temperament) is then: f=20 x 440 Hz For example, one can find the frequency of C, the first C above A,. There are 3 hal-steps between A, and C, (Ay —+ Az, + By» C,), and the nate is above A, s0 n= 9. The notes frequency is: fad To find the frequency ofa note below Ag, the value ofm is negative. For example, the F below Ais Fy. There are 4 half-steps (Ay —» Aby + +), and the note is below Ay, son = ~4. The note's frequency is x 440 His w 523.2 Hz Gb, fa2 Finally it ean be seen from this formula that octaves automatically yield powers of two times the original frequency, since mis a multiple of 12 (12k, ‘where kis the number of octaves up or down), and so the formula reduces to x 440 Ha ~ 349.2 Hz x 440 Hz = 2* x 440 He