In music, a note is a symbol denoting a musical sound.

In English usage a note is

also the sound itself.

Note 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 note A or La

Names of some notes without accidentals

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 traditional music theory, most countries in the world use the solf�ge naming
convention Do�Re�Mi�Fa�Sol�La�Si, including for instance Italy, Portugal, Spain,
France, Poland, Romania, most Latin American countries, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey,
Russia, and all the Arabic-speaking or 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). A few European
countries, including Germany, adopt an almost identical notation, in which H
substitutes for B (see below for details). In Indian music the Sanskrit names
Sa�Re�Ga�Ma�Pa�Dha�Ni (??-??-??-??-??-??-??) are used, as in Telugu
Sa�Ri�Ga�Ma�Pa�Da�Ni (?�??�?�?�?�?�??), and in Tamil (?�??�?�?�?�?�??). Byzantium
used the names Pa�Vu�Ga�Di�Ke�Zo�Ni (p?�???�Ga�??�??�??�??).

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 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.

Contents
1 Accidentals
2 12-tone chromatic scale
3 Note designation in accordance with octave name
4 Written notes
5 Note frequency (hertz)
6 History of note names
7 See also
8 References
9 Bibliography
10 External links
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 12v2, 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).

Frequency vs position on treble clef. Each note shown has a frequency of the
previous note multiplied by 12v2
Additional accidentals are the double-sharp double sharp, raising the frequency by
two semitones, and double-flat 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 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 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 (French,
Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, 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., Hdouble
flat) is used instead of Bdouble flat (although Bes and Heses both denote the
English Bdouble flat). 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 Bdouble
flat 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 Bdouble flat.

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 convention 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
 12
English C C sharp
(C?) D D sharp
(D?) E F F sharp
(F?) G G sharp
(G?) A A sharp
(A?) B
D flat
(D?) E flat
(E?) G flat
(G?) A flat
(A?) B flat
(B?)
German[2]
(used in AT, CZ, DE, SE, DK, EE, FI, HU, NO, PL, RS, SK) C Cis
(C?) D Dis
(D?) E F Fis
(F?) G Gis
(G?) A Ais
(A?) H
Des
(D?) Es
(E?) Ges
(G?) As
(A?) B
Dutch[2]
(used in NL, and sometimes in Scandinavia after the 1990s, and Indonesia) C
Cis
(C?) D Dis
(D?) E F Fis
(F?) G Gis
(G?) A Ais
(A?) B
Des
(D?) Es
(E?) Ges
(G?) As
(A?) Bes
(B?)
Neo-Latin[3]
(used in IT, FR, ES, RO, Latin America, GR, IL, TR, LV and many other countries)
diesis/bemolle are Italian spelling Do Do diesis
(Do?) Re Re diesis
(Re?) Mi Fa Fa diesis
(Fa?) Sol Sol diesis
(Sol?) La La diesis
(La?) Si
Re bemolle
(Re?) Mi bemolle
(Mi?) Sol bemolle
(Sol?) La bemolle
(La?) Si bemolle
(Si?)
Byzantine[4] Ni Ni diesis Pa Pa diesis Vu Ga Ga diesis Di
Di diesis Ke Ke diesis Zo
Pa hyphesis Vu hyphesis Di hyphesis Ke hyphesis Zo hyphesis
Japanese[5] Ha (?) Ei-ha
(??) Ni (?) Ei-ni
(??) Ho (?) He (?) Ei-he
(??) To (?) Ei-to
(??) I (?) Ei-i
(??) Ro (?)
Hen-ni
(??) Hen-ho
(??) Hen-to
(??) Hen-i
(??) Hen-ro
(??)
Indian (Hindustani) Sa Re Komal Re Ga Komal Ga Ma Ma Tivra
Pa Dha Komal Dha Ni Komal Ni
Indian (Carnatic) Sa Shuddha Ri Chatushruti Ri Sadharana Ga Antara Ga
Shuddha Ma Prati Ma Pa Shuddha Dha Chatushruti Dha Kaisika Ni Kakali
Ni
Shuddha Ga Shatshruti Ri Shuddha Ni Shatshruti Dha
Note designation in accordance with octave name
See also: Piano key frequencies
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
of A (Hz)
traditional Helmholtz scientific MIDI
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
C to G 14080
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.

\relative c' {
c1 d1 e1 f1 g1 a1 b1 c1 b1 a1 g1 f1 e1 d1 c1
}
\layout {
\context {
\Staff
\remove Time_signature_engraver
\remove Bar_engraver
}
}
\midi {
\tempo 1 = 120
}
0:00