30/01/2021 Scientific pitch notation - Wikipedia 30/01/2021 Scientific pitch notation - Wikipedia

Scientific pitch notation avoids possible confusion between various derivatives of Helmholtz notation which use similar symbols to refer
to different notes. For example, "c" in Helmholtz's original notation[2] refers to the C below middle C, whereas "C" in ABC Notation

Scientific pitch notation refers to middle C itself. With scientific pitch notation, middle C is always C4, and C4 is never any note but middle C. This notation
system also avoids the "fussiness" of having to visually distinguish between four and five primes, as well as the typographic issues
involved in producing acceptable subscripts or substitutes for them. C7 is much easier to quickly distinguish visually from C8, than is, for
Scientific pitch notation (or SPN, also known as American standard pitch example, c′′′′ from c′′′′′, and the use of simple integers (e.g. C7 and C8) makes subscripts unnecessary altogether.
notation (ASPN) and international pitch notation (IPN))[1] is a method of
specifying musical pitch by combining a musical note name (with accidental if needed) Although pitch notation is intended to describe sounds audibly perceptible as pitches, it can also be used to specify the frequency of non-
and a number identifying the pitch's octave. ♭
pitch phenomena. Notes below E0 or higher than E10 are outside most humans' hearing range, although notes slightly outside the
Although scientific pitch notation was originally designed as a companion to scientific hearing range on the low end may still be indirectly perceptible as pitches due to their overtones falling within the hearing range. For an
pitch (see below), the two are not synonymous. Scientific pitch is a pitch standard—a example of truly inaudible frequencies, when the Chandra X-ray Observatory observed the waves of pressure fronts propagating away
system that defines the specific frequencies of particular pitches (see below). Scientific from a black hole, their one oscillation every 10  million years was described by NASA as corresponding to the B ♭ fifty-seven octaves
♭
pitch notation concerns only how pitch names are notated, that is, how they are below middle C (B−53 or 3.235 fHz).[3]
designated in printed and written text, and does not inherently specify actual frequencies.
Thus, the use of scientific pitch notation to distinguish octaves does not depend on the
pitch standard used.
Ten Cs in scientific pitch notation Similar systems
There are pitch-octave notation conventions that appear similar to scientific pitch notation but are based on an alternative octave
convention that differs from scientific pitch notation, usually by one octave. For example, middle C ("C4" in ISPN) appears in some MIDI
Contents software as "C5" (MIDI note 60).[4] This convention is probably related to a similar convention in sample-based trackers, where C5 is the
Nomenclature basic pitch at which a sample plays (8287.12 Hz in MOD), forcing the musician to treat samples at any other pitch as transposing
instruments when using them in songs. Alternately, both Yamaha and the software MaxMSP define middle C as C3. Apple's GarageBand
Use also defines middle C (261.6256 Hz) as C3.
Similar systems
Meantone temperament Using scientific pitch notation consistently, the MIDI NoteOn message assigns MIDI note 0 to C−1 (five octaves below C4 or Middle C;
lowest note on the two largest organs of the world; about one octave below the human hearing threshold: its overtones, however, are
Table of note frequencies
audible), MIDI note 21 to A0 (the bottom key of an 88-key piano), MIDI note 60 to C4 (Middle C), MIDI note 69 to A4 (A440), MIDI note
Scientific pitch versus scientific pitch notation 108 to C8 (the top key of an 88-key piano), and MIDI note 127 to G9 (beyond the piano; one octave above the highest note on some
Footnotes keyboard glockenspiels; some notes above the highest-pitched organ pipes).
See also
This creates a linear pitch space in which an octave spans 12 semitones, where each semitone is the distance between adjacent keys of the
References piano keyboard. Distance in this space corresponds to musical pitch distance in an equal-tempered scale, 2 semitones being a whole step,
External links and 1 semitone being a half step. An equal-tempered semitone can also be subdivided further into 100 cents. Each cent is 1⁄100 semitone
or 1⁄1200 octave. This measure of pitch allows the expression of microtones not found on standard piano keyboards.

Nomenclature
Meantone temperament
The notation makes use of the traditional tone names (A to G) which are followed by numbers showing which octave they are part of.
The notation is sometimes used in the context of meantone temperament, and does not always assume equal temperament nor the
For standard A440 pitch equal temperament, the system begins at a frequency of 16.35160 Hz, which is assigned the value C0. standard concert A4 of 440 Hz; this is particularly the case in connection with earlier music.

The octave 0 of the scientific pitch notation is traditionally called the sub-contra octave, and the tone marked C0 in SPN is written as ,,C The standard proposed to the Acoustical Society of America[5] explicitly states a logarithmic scale for frequency, which excludes
or C,, or CCC in traditional systems, such as Helmholtz notation. Octave 0 of SPN marks the low end of what humans can actually meantone temperament, and the base frequency it uses gives A4 a frequency of exactly 440  Hz. However, when dealing with earlier
perceive, with the average person being able to hear frequencies no lower than 20 Hz as pitches. music that did not use equal temperament, it is understandably easier to simply refer to notes by their closest modern equivalent, as
opposed to specifying the difference using cents every time.[a]
The octave number increases by 1 upon an ascension from B to C. Thus, A0 refers to the first A above C0 and middle C (the one-line
octave's C or simply c′) is denoted as C4 in SPN. For example, C4 is one note above B3, and A5 is one note above G5. Table of note frequencies
The octave number is tied to the alphabetic character used to describe the pitch, with the division between note letters ‘B’ and ‘C’, thus:
The table below gives notation for pitches based on
standard piano key frequencies: standard concert pitch
"B3" and all of its possible variants (B , B♭, B, B♯, B ) would properly be designated as being in octave "3".
and twelve-tone equal temperament. When a piano is
"C4" and all of its possible variants (C , C♭, C, C♯, C ) would properly be designated as being in octave "4". tuned to just intonation, C4 refers to the same key on the
♭ keyboard, but a slightly different frequency. Keys which
In equal temperaments "C4" is same frequency as "B3".
do not appear on any piano (medium gray) or only on an An 88-key piano, with the octaves numbered and Middle C (cyan) and A440 (yellow)
extended 108-key piano (light gray) are highlighted. highlighted.
Use
Scientific pitch notation is often used to specify the range of an instrument. It provides an unambiguous means of identifying a note in
terms of textual notation rather than frequency, while at the same time avoiding the transposition conventions that are used in writing
the music for instruments such as the clarinet and guitar. It is also easily translated into staff notation, as needed. In describing musical
♭
pitches, nominally enharmonic spellings can give rise to anomalies where, for example in meantone temperaments C4 is a lower
frequency than B3; but such paradoxes usually do not arise in a scientific context.

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30/01/2021 Scientific pitch notation - Wikipedia 30/01/2021 Scientific pitch notation - Wikipedia
Fundamental frequency in hertz (MIDI note number) MIDI tuning standard
Octave Piano key frequencies
−1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Note Keyboard tablature
C
8.175799 16.35160 32.70320 65.40639 130.8128 261.6256 523.2511 1046.502 2093.005 4186.009 8372.018 16744.04 Letter notation
(0) (12) (24) (36) (48) (60) (72) (84) (96) (108) (120)   

C♯/D♭
8.661957
(1)
17.32391
(13)
34.64783
(25)
69.29566
(37)
138.5913
(49)
277.1826
(61)
554.3653
(73)
1108.731
(85)
2217.461
(97)
4434.922
(109)
8869.844
(121)
17739.69
  
References
D
9.177024 18.35405 36.70810 73.41619 146.8324 293.6648 587.3295 1174.659 2349.318 4698.636 9397.273 18794.55 1. International Pitch Notation (http://www.flutopedia.com/octave_notation.htm)
(2) (14) (26) (38) (50) (62) (74) (86) (98) (110) (122)   
2. von Helmholtz, Hermann (1912) [1870]. Die Lehre von den Tonempfindungen als physiologische Grundlage für die Theorie der
9.722718 19.44544 38.89087 77.78175 155.5635 311.1270 622.2540 1244.508 2489.016 4978.032 9956.063 19912.13 Musik (https://archive.org/stream/onsensationston01helmgoog#page/n5/mode/2up) [The Study of the Sensations of Tone as a
E♭/D♯
(3) (15) (27) (39) (51) (63) (75) (87) (99) (111) (123)    Psychologicle Foundation for Music Theory]. Translated by Ellis, A.J. (4 ed.) – via Internet Archive.
10.30086 20.60172 41.20344 82.40689 164.8138 329.6276 659.2551 1318.510 2637.020 5274.041 10548.08 21096.16 3. "Black hole sound waves" (https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2003/09sep_blackholesounds/) (Press release).
E NASA. "Sound waves 57 octaves lower than middle-C are rumbling away from a supermassive black hole in the Perseus cluster."
(4) (16) (28) (40) (52) (64) (76) (88) (100) (112) (124)   

10.91338 21.82676 43.65353 87.30706 174.6141 349.2282 698.4565 1396.913 2793.826 5587.652 11175.30 22350.61
4. Guérin, Robert. MIDI Power!. ISBN 1-929685-66-1.
F 5. Young, Robert W. (1939). "Terminology for Logarithmic Frequency Units". Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 11 (1): 134–
(5) (17) (29) (41) (53) (65) (77) (89) (101) (113) (125)   
000. Bibcode:1939ASAJ...11..134Y (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1939ASAJ...11..134Y). doi:10.1121/1.1916017 (https://doi.org/
11.56233 23.12465 46.24930 92.49861 184.9972 369.9944 739.9888 1479.978 2959.955 5919.911 11839.82 23679.64
F♯/G♭ 10.1121%2F1.1916017).
(6) (18) (30) (42) (54) (66) (78) (90) (102) (114) (126)   
6. ISO 16:1975 Acoustics – Standard tuning frequency (Standard musical pitch) (http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/cata
12.24986 24.49971 48.99943 97.99886 195.9977 391.9954 783.9909 1567.982 3135.963 6271.927 12543.85 25087.71 logue_detail.htm?csnumber=3601). International Organization for Standardization. 1975.
G
(7) (19) (31) (43) (55) (67) (79) (91) (103) (115) (127)   

A♭/G♯
12.97827
(8)
25.95654
(20)
51.91309
(32)
103.8262
(44)
207.6523
(56)
415.3047
(68)
830.6094
(80)
1661.219
(92)
3322.438
(104)
6644.875
(116)
13289.75
  
26579.50
   External links
13.75000 27.50000 55.00000 110.0000 220.0000 440.0000 880.0000 1760.000 3520.000 7040.000 14080.00 28160.00 English Octave-Naming Convention (http://www.dolmetsch.com/musictheory1.htm#uspitch) – Dolmetsch Music Theory Online
A
(9) (21) (33) (45) (57) (69) (81) (93) (105) (117)      
Notefreqs (http://www.deimos.ca/notefreqs) – A complete table of note frequencies and ratios for midi, piano, guitar, bass, and violin.
B♭/A♯
14.56762 29.13524 58.27047 116.5409 233.0819 466.1638 932.3275 1864.655 3729.310 7458.620 14917.24 29834.48 Includes fret measurements (in cm and inches) for building instruments.
(10) (22) (34) (46) (58) (70) (82) (94) (106) (118)      

15.43385 30.86771 61.73541 123.4708 246.9417 493.8833 987.7666 1975.533 3951.066 7902.133 15804.27 31608.53 Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Scientific_pitch_notation&oldid=997817161"
B
(11) (23) (35) (47) (59) (71) (83) (95) (107) (119)      

Mathematically, given the number n of semitones above middle C, the fundamental frequency in hertz is given by (see This page was last edited on 2 January 2021, at 10:56 (UTC).

twelfth root of two). Given the MIDI NoteOn number m, the frequency of the note is normally Hz, using standard Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and
Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
tuning.

Scientific pitch versus scientific pitch notation

Scientific pitch (q.v.) is an absolute pitch standard, first proposed in 1713 by French physicist Joseph Sauveur. It was defined so that all
Cs are integer powers of 2, with middle C (C4) at 256  hertz. As already noted, it is not dependent upon, nor a part of scientific pitch
notation described here. To avoid the confusion in names, scientific pitch is sometimes also called "Verdi tuning" or "philosophical
pitch".

The current international pitch standard, using A4 as exactly 440 Hz, had been informally adopted by the music industry as far back as
1926, and A440 became the official international pitch standard in 1955. SPN is routinely used to designate pitch in this system. A4 may
be tuned to other frequencies under different tuning standards, and SPN octave designations still apply (ISO 16).[6]

With changes in concert pitch and the widespread adoption of A440 as a musical standard, new scientific frequency tables were
published by the Acoustical Society of America in 1939, and adopted by the International Organization for Standardization in 1955. C0,
which was exactly 16 Hz under the scientific pitch standard, is now 16.352 Hz under the current international standard system.[5]

Footnotes
a. The conventions of musical pitch notation require the use of sharps and flats on the circle of fifths closest to the key currently in use,
and forbid substitution of notes with the same frequency in equal temperament, such as A♯ and B♭. These rules have the effect of
(usually) producing more nearly consonant pitches when using meantone systems, and other non-equal temperaments. In almost all
meantone temperaments, the so-called enharmonic notes, such as A♯ and B♭, are a different pitch, with A♯ at a lower frequency than
the enharmonic B♭. With the single exception of equal temperament (which fits in among meantone systems as a special case)
enharmonic notes always have slightly different frequencies.

See also
Mathematics of musical scales
Helmholtz pitch notation
MIDI

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