Musical note

In music, a note is the representation of a

musical sound.

Notes can represent the pitch and duration

of a sound in musical notation. 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.[1]
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. (See also: Key signature names and
translations.)
The symbol of the note A or La

Names of some notes

Two notes with fundamental frequencies

in a ratio equal to any integer 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 European music theory, most countries

use the solfège naming convention do–
re–mi–fa–sol–la–si, including for
instance Italy, Portugal, Spain, France,
Romania, most Latin American countries,
Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Russia,
Arabic-speaking and Persian-speaking
countries. However, in English- and Dutch-
speaking regions, pitch classes are
typically represented by the first seven
letters of the Latin alphabet (A, B, C, D, E, F
and G). Several European countries,
including Germany, adopt an almost
identical notation, in which H is
substituted for B (see below for details).
Byzantium used the names Pa–Vu–Ga–
Di–Ke–Zo–Ni (Πα–Βου–Γα–Δι–Κε–Ζω–
Νη).[2]
In traditional Indian music, musical notes
are called svaras and commonly
represented using the seven notes, Sa, Re,
Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha and Ni.

The eighth note, or octave, is given the

same name as the first, but has double its
frequency (first harmonic). 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 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 systems to define

each note and octave, the Helmholtz pitch
notation and the scientific pitch notation.

Accidentals
Letter names are modified by the
accidentals. The sharp sign ♯ 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
12
√2, approximately 1.0595. The
accidentals are written after the note
name: so, for example, F♯ represents F-
sharp, B♭ is B-flat, and C♮ is C natural (or
C).

12
Frequency vs position on treble clef. Each note shown has a frequency of the previous note multiplied by √2

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 a pitch unmodified by the
alterations in the key signature. Effects of
key signature and local accidentals do not
accumulate. If the key signature indicates
G♯, a local flat before a G makes it G♭ (not
G♮), 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 enharmonicity, 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,
Greek, or a Romance language (such as
French, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and
Romanian).

In most countries using these suffixes, the

letter H is used to represent what is B
natural in English, the letter B is used
instead of B♭, and Heses (i.e., H ) is used
instead of B (although Bes and Heses
both denote the English B ). Dutch-
speakers in Belgium and the Netherlands
use the same suffixes, but applied
throughout to the notes A to G, so that B,
B♭ and B have the same meaning as in
English, although they are called B, Bes,
and Beses instead of B, B flat and B double
flat. Denmark also uses H, but uses Bes
instead of Heses for B .

12-tone chromatic scale

The following chart lists the names used
in different countries for the 12 notes of a
chromatic scale built on C. The
corresponding symbols are shown within
parenthesis. Differences between German
and English notation are highlighted in
bold typeface. Although the English and
Dutch names are different, the
corresponding symbols are identical.
Names of notes in various languages and countries
Naming
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
convention

C sharp D sharp F sharp G sharp

(C♯) (D♯) (F♯) (G♯)
English C D E F G
D flat E flat G flat A flat
(D♭) (E♭) (G♭) (A♭)

German[3]
(used in
Austria, Czech
Cis Dis Fis Gis
Republic,
(C♯) (D♯) (F♯) (G♯)
Germany,
Denmark,
Estonia,
Finland, C D E F G
Hungary,
Norway,
Poland,
Des Es Ges As
Serbia,
(D♭) (E♭) (G♭) (A♭)
Slovakia,
Slovenia,
Sweden)

Ciss Diss Fiss Giss

Swedish
(C♯) (D♯) (F♯) (G♯)
compromise[4] C D E F G
Dess Ess Gess Ass
(Sweden)
(D♭) (E♭) (G♭) (A♭)
Dutch[3]
(used in Cis Dis Fis Gis
Netherlands, (C♯) (D♯) (F♯) (G♯)
and
sometimes in C D E F G
Scandinavia
after the Des Es Ges As
1990s, and (D♭) (E♭) (G♭) (A♭)
Indonesia)

Romance
languages[5]
(used in Italy, do sol
re diesis fa diesis
France, Spain, diesis diesis
Romania, (re♯) (fa♯)
(do♯) (sol♯)
Russia, Latin
America,
Greece, Israel, do re mi fa sol
Turkey, Latvia
and many
other re mi sol la
countries) bemolle bemolle bemolle bemolle
diesis/bemolle (re♭) (mi♭) (sol♭) (la♭)
are Italian
spelling

Ga
Ni diesis Pa diesis Di diesis
diesis
Byzantine[6] Ni Pa Vu Ga Di
Pa Vu Di Ke
hyphesis hyphesis hyphesis hyphesis

Ei-ha Ei-ni Ei-he Ei-to

嬰ハ) 嬰ニ)
ヘ) (嬰へ) (To
( ( (嬰ト)
Japanese[7]
Ha
ハ) ニ) Ho
ホ) Hen-to ト) Hen-i
Ni ( He (
( Hen-ni Hen-ho (
( 変ニ) ( 変ホ) (変ト) (変イ)

Indian Sa Re Re Ga Komal Ga Ma Ma Tivra Pa Dha

(Hindustani)[8] (सा) Komal (रे) (ग॒) (ग) (म) (म॑) ( प) Komal
 (रे॒) (ध॒)

Chatushruti Sadharana
Antara
Indian Shuddha Ri (R2) Ga (G2) Shuddha Prati Ma Shuddha
Sa Ga Pa
(Carnatic) Ri (R1) Shuddha Shatshruti Ma (M1) (M2) Dha (D1)
(G3)
Ga (G1) Ri (R3)

Komôl Komôl
Indian Sa Re Komôl Ga Ga Ma Kôṛi Ma Pa
Re Dha
(Bengali)[9] (সা) (রে) (জ্ঞ) ( গ) ( ম) (হ্ম) (প )
(ঋ) (দ)

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 (Helmholtz)
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 at 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.
Names of octaves
Octave naming systems Frequency
Traditional Helmholtz Scientific MIDI of A (Hz)

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

120 – 127
six-lined c′′′′′′ – b′′′′′′ C9 – B9 14080
C to G

Written notes
A written note can also have a note value,
a code that determines the note's relative
duration. In order of halving duration, they
are: double note (breve); whole note
(semibreve); half note (minim); quarter
note (crotchet); eighth note (quaver);
sixteenth note (semiquaver); thirty-second
note (demisemiquaver), sixty-fourth note
(hemidemisemiquaver), and hundred
twenty-eighth note.

In a score, each note is assigned a specific

vertical position on a staff position (a line
or space) on the staff, as determined by
the clef. Each line or space is assigned a
note name. These names are memorized
by musicians and allow them to know at a
glance the proper pitch to play on their
instruments.
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.

Note frequency (in hertz)

Music can be composed of notes at any
arbitrary physical frequency. Since the
physical causes of music are vibrations,
they are often measured in hertz (Hz), with
1 Hz meaning one 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, and an octave
number. Each note is an integer number of
half-steps away from concert 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 → A♯4 → 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
→ A♭4 → G4 → G♭4 → 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 powers of
two times the original frequency, since n is
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
1200
cent is precisely equal to √2, which is
approximately 1.000 578.

For use with the MIDI (Musical Instrument

Digital Interface) standard, a frequency
mapping is defined by:
where p is the MIDI note number (and 69
is the number of semitones between C−1
(note 0) and A4). And in the opposite
direction, to obtain the frequency from a
MIDI note p, the formula is defined as:

For notes in an A440 equal temperament,

this formula delivers the standard MIDI
note number (p). Any other frequencies fill
the space between the whole numbers
evenly. This lets MIDI instruments be
tuned accurately in any microtuning scale,
including non-western traditional tunings.
Note names and their history
Music notation systems have used letters
of the alphabet for centuries. The 6th-
century philosopher Boethius is known to
have used the first fourteen letters of the
classical Latin alphabet (the letter J did
not exist until the 16th century),

A B C D E F G H I K L M N O,

to signify the notes of the two-octave

range that was in use at the time[10] and in
modern scientific pitch notation are
represented as
 A2 B2 C3 D3 E3 F3 G3 A3 B3 C4 D4 E4 F4
G4 .

Though it is not known whether this was

his devising or common usage at the time,
this is nonetheless called Boethian
notation. Although Boethius is the first
author known to use this nomenclature in
the literature, Ptolemy wrote of the two-
octave range five centuries before, calling
it the perfect system or complete system –
as opposed to other, smaller-range note
systems that did not contain all possible
species of octave (i.e., the seven octaves
starting from A, B, C, D, E, F, and G).
Following this, the range (or compass) of
used notes was extended to three octaves,
and the system of repeating letters A–G in
each octave was introduced, these being
written as lower-case for the second
octave (a–g) and double lower-case letters
for the third (aa–gg). When the range was
extended down by one note, to a G, that
note was denoted using the Greek letter
gamma (Γ). (It is from this that the French
word for scale, gamme derives, 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♭,
since B 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 script (known as Blackletter) 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, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary,
Norway, Denmark, Serbia, Croatia,
Slovenia, Finland and Iceland (and Sweden
before the 1990s), the Gothic b
transformed into the letter H (possibly for
hart, German for hard, or just because the
Gothic b resembled an H). Therefore, in
German music notation, H is used instead
of B♮ (B-natural), and B instead of 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 lower-case 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, Spanish, French,
Romanian, Greek, Albanian, Russian,
Mongolian, Flemish, Persian, Arabic,
Hebrew, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Turkish and
Vietnamese the note names are 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 solfège system. For ease of singing,
the name ut was largely replaced by do
(most likely from the beginning of
Dominus, Lord), though ut is still used in
some places. It was the Italian
musicologist and humanist Giovanni
Battista Doni (1595–1647) who
successfully proposed to rename the note
"Ut" to "Do". For the seventh degree, the
name si (from Sancte Iohannes, St. John,
to whom the hymn is dedicated), though in
some regions the seventh is named ti.

The two notation systems most commonly

used today are the Helmholtz pitch
notation system and the scientific pitch
notation system. As shown in the table
above, they both include several octaves,
each starting from C rather than A. The
reason is that the most commonly used
scale in Western music is the major scale,
and the sequence C–D–E–F–G–A–B–C
(the C major scale) is the simplest
example of a major scale. Indeed, it is the
only major scale that can be obtained
using natural notes (the white keys on the
piano keyboard) and is typically the first
musical scale taught in music schools.

In a newly developed system, primarily in

use in the United States, notes of scales
become independent of 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
(the tonic), re is the name of the second
degree, etc. The idea of this so-called
"movable do," first 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.

See also
Ghost note
Grace note
 Letter notation
Musical tone
Pensato
Shape note
Universal key

References
1. Nattiez 1990, p. 81, note 9.
2. Savas I. Savas (1965). Byzantine Music in
Theory and in Practice. Translated by
Nicholas Dufault. Hercules Press.
3. -is = sharp; -es (after consonant) and -s
(after vowel) = flat
4. -iss = sharp; -ess (after consonant) and -ss
(after vowel) = flat
 5. diesis = sharp; bemolle = flat
6. diesis (or diez) = sharp; hyphesis = flat
7. 嬰 (ei) = ♯ (sharp); 変 (hen) = ♭ (flat)
8. According to Bhatkhande Notation. Tivra =
♯ (sharp); Komal = ♭ (flat)
9. According to Akarmatrik Notation
(আকারমাত্রিক স্বরলিপি). Kôṛi = ♯ (sharp);
Komôl = ♭ (flat)
10. Boethius, Gottfried Friedlein (editor). De
institutione musica: text at the International
Music Score Library Project. Book IV,
chapter 14, p. 341.

Bibliography
Nattiez, Jean-Jacques (1990) [1987].
Music and Discourse: Toward a
 Semiology of Music [Musicologie
générale et sémiologie]. Translated by
Carolyn Abbate. ISBN 0-691-02714-5.

External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related
to Musical notes.

Converter: Frequencies to note name, ±

cents (http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/m
usic/note/)
Note names, keyboard positions,
frequencies and MIDI numbers (http://w
ww.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/notes.html)
Music notation systems − Frequencies
of equal temperament tuning – The
English and American system versus the
 German system (http://www.sengpielau
dio.com/calculator-notenames.htm)
Frequencies of musical notes (https://w
eb.archive.org/web/20081219095621/h
ttp://www.adamsatoms.com/notes/)
Learn How to Read Sheet Music (https://
blog.sheetmusicplus.com/2015/12/30/l
earn-how-to-read-sheet-music-notes/)
Free music paper for printing and
downloading (https://www.4attheclub.d
e/notenpapier-notenblatt/)

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