Note

In music, a note is either a unit of fixed pitch that has been given a name, or the graphic representation of that pitch in a notation system, and sometimes its duration, or a specific instance of either, so one can speak of "the second note of Happy Birthday" for example. The general and specific meanings are freely mixed by musicians, although they can be initially confusing: "the first two notes of Happy Birthday are the same note", meaning, "the first two sounds of Happy Birthday have the same pitch." A note is a discretization of musical or sound phenomena and thus facilitates musical analysis (Nattiez 1990, p.81n9).

Note name

In English, notes are given 7 letter names: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G (in order of rising pitch). These letter names repeat, so that the note above G is A (an octave higher than the first A) and the sequence continues indefinitely. Notes are used together as a musical scale or tone row. However, because there are actually 12 notes needed by diatonic music, the 7 letter names can also be given a modifier.

Related Topics:
Octave - Scale - Tone row - Diatonic

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The two main modifiers are sharps and flats which respectively raise or lower the pitch of a note by a semitone. These are used to create the additional five notes necessary to complete the chromatic scale. The sharp symbol is ♯ (similar to the pound symbol, #), the flat symbol is ♭ (similar to a lower-case italic b). These accidentals are written after the note name; for example F♯ represents the note F sharp, B♭ is B flat.

Related Topics:
Sharp - Flat - Semitone - Chromatic scale - Accidentals

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In music notation the symbols are placed before the note symbol or at the beginning of the line as a key signature. The natural symbol (?), can be inserted before a note to cancel a flat or sharp in the signature.

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Sharps can also be applied to notes B and E creating notes that are equal to C and F respectively (in modern western musical practice). Similarly flats applied to C and F are other names for B and E. Pushing this further, double-sharps and double-flats are used to indicate raised sharps and lowered flats. For example B♭♭ is another name for A.

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Numbers can be suffixed to the letter names to distiguish the octaves they fall in. Octaves are counted upward and run starting from C, where A4 is nowadays standardised to 440 Hz, lying in the octave containing notes from C4 to B4. The lowest note on most pianos is A0.

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Continental note names

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♯, Bes for B♭, Es for E♭. In parts of Europe, the letter H is sometimes used instead of B, in which case B represents B♭.

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Note name example

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 the musician and allows him or her to know at a glance the proper pitch to play on his or her instrument for each note-head marked on the page.

Related Topics:
Score - Staff position - Staff - Clef - Musician

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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.

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The frequency of a note doubles per octave. So the next C has a frequency of 524.

Related Topics:
Frequency - Octave

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