Pitch
Pitch is created by varying frequencies of sound waves. The higher the frequency of a sound wave, or the more often air particles of the sound medium vibrates, the higher the pitch of the sound. Frequency is measured in Hertz (1 Hz = 1 vibration/second), and the human ear can detect sounds from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. There are some people, especially those who have had musical training, who can determine a difference between two pitches as little as 2 Hz apart.
Music is created with a series of notes, based on the standard 440 Hz note A. This standard is often used to tune musical instruments especially those used for Western music.
In Western music, there is a set interval between each note that is determined by the number: the twelfth root of two. The division of the octave into notes differing by 1.0595 Hz is know as equal temperament tuning, a method that replaced using simple ratios to divide the octave during the Baroque Period of music (1600-1750). A series of every note in an octave played consecutively is also known as the chromatic scale link to chromatic scale.
There are different ratios of notes that produce pleasing or discordant sounds to the ear – these are ratios often used in music. For example, if you double the frequency of a note, you end up the same note an octave higher. In other words, the quality of the note sounds the same, but the pitch is higher. We will explore intervals further later on in this site.
Here is an esample of different intervals and their pitch changes around A-440.
So why do composers bother to write music for different instruments? Different instruments offer different kinds of sound, which are the combination of different yet related frequencies. These are called harmonics. The sound of each instrument is called the tone or voice of the instrument.
Insert some sound files of different pitches and their accompanying sound wave pictures if possible.
Names of Notes
Notes are named with letters of the Roman alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. These names are repeated for every note of the same pitch or the pitch in different octaves. All pitches of the same name belong to the same pitch class.
Octaves and Scientific Pitch Notation
As mentioned in the pitch section, a note whose frequency is double that of another note is an octave higher than that other note. These notes have the same name and belong to the same pitch class but since they are of different octaves, they have different numbers following their name. This method of notation is known as scientific pitch notation or note-octave notation.
Octaves are built around middle C, which has the frequency: 261.6 Hz. Middle C is also notated as C4, to indicate what octave it belongs to. Notes in the lowest octave would have the number 0 after the alphabetical name to indicate that it is in the lowest octave.
Half tones from middle C | Frequency (Hz) | Note name | Octave number |
| -48 | 16.35 | C | 0 |
| -47 | 17.32 | C# | 0 |
| -46 | 18.35 | D | 0 |
| -45 | 19.45 | D# | 0 |
| -44 | 20.60 | E | 0 |
| -43 | 21.83 | F | 0 |
| -42 | 23.12 | F# | 0 |
| -41 | 24.50 | G | 0 |
| -40 | 25.96 | G# | 0 |
| -39 | 27.5 | A | 0 |
| -38 | 29.14 | A# | 0 |
| -37 | 30.87 | B | 0 |
| -36 | 32.70 | C | 1 |
| -35 | 34.65 | C# | 1 |
| -34 | 36.71 | D | 1 |
| -33 | 38.89 | D# | 1 |
| -32 | 41.20 | E | 1 |
| -31 | 43.65 | F | 1 |
| -30 | 46.25 | F# | 1 |
| -29 | 49.00 | G | 1 |
| -28 | 51.91 | G# | 1 |
| -27 | 55 | A | 1 |
| -26 | 58.27 | A# | 1 |
| -25 | 61.74 | B | 1 |
| -24 | 65.41 | C | 2 |
| -23 | 69.30 | C# | 2 |
| -22 | 73.42 | D | 2 |
| -21 | 77.78 | D# | 2 |
| -20 | 82.41 | E | 2 |
| -19 | 87.31 | F | 2 |
| -18 | 92.50 | F# | 2 |
| -17 | 98.00 | G | 2 |
| -16 | 103.8 | G# | 2 |
| -15 | 110 | A | 2 |
| -14 | 116.5 | A# | 2 |
| -13 | 123.5 | B | 2 |
| -12 | 130.8 | C | 3 |
| -11 | 138.6 | C# | 3 |
| -10 | 146.8 | D | 3 |
| -9 | 155.6 | D# | 3 |
| -8 | 164.8 | E | 3 |
| -7 | 174.6 | F | 3 |
| -6 | 185 | F# | 3 |
| -5 | 196 | G | 3 |
| -4 | 207.7 | G# | 3 |
| -3 | 220 | A | 3 |
| -2 | 233.1 | A# | 3 |
| -1 | 246.9 | B | 3 |
| 0 | 261.6 | C | 4 |
| 1 | 277.2 | C# | 4 |
| 2 | 293.7 | D | 4 |
| 3 | 311.1 | D# | 4 |
| 4 | 329.6 | E | 4 |
| 5 | 349.2 | F | 4 |
| 6 | 370 | F# | 4 |
| 7 | 392 | G | 4 |
| 8 | 415.3 | G# | 4 |
| 9 | 440 | A | 4 |
| 10 | 466.2 | A# | 4 |
| 11 | 493.9 | B | 4 |
| 12 | 523.3 | C | 5 |
| 13 | 554.4 | C# | 5 |
| 14 | 587.3 | D | 5 |
| 15 | 622.3 | D# | 5 |
| 16 | 659.3 | E | 5 |
| 17 | 698.5 | F | 5 |
| 18 | 740 | F# | 5 |
| 19 | 784 | G | 5 |
| 20 | 830.6 | G# | 5 |
| 21 | 880 | A | 5 |
| 22 | 932.3 | A# | 5 |
| 23 | 987.8 | B | 5 |
| 24 | 1047 | C | 6 |
| 25 | 1109 | C# | 6 |
| 26 | 1175 | D | 6 |
| 27 | 1245 | D# | 6 |
| 28 | 1319 | E | 6 |
| 29 | 1397 | F | 6 |
| 30 | 1480 | F# | 6 |
| 31 | 1568 | G | 6 |
| 32 | 1661 | G# | 6 |
| 33 | 1760 | A | 6 |
| 34 | 1865 | A# | 6 |
| 35 | 1976 | B | 6 |
| 36 | 2093 | C | 7 |
| 37 | 2217 | C# | 7 |
| 38 | 2349 | D | 7 |
| 39 | 2489 | D# | 7 |
| 40 | 2637 | E | 7 |
| 41 | 2794 | F | 7 |
| 42 | 2960 | F# | 7 |
| 43 | 3136 | G | 7 |
| 44 | 3322 | G# | 7 |
| 45 | 3520 | A | 7 |
| 46 | 3729 | A# | 7 |
| 47 | 3951 | B | 7 |
| 48 | 4186 | C | 8 |
| 49 | 4435 | C# | 8 |
| 50 | 4699 | D | 8 |
| 51 | 4978 | D# | 8 |
| 52 | 5274 | E | 8 |
| 53 | 5588 | F | 8 |
| 54 | 5920 | F# | 8 |
| 55 | 6272 | G | 8 |
| 56 | 6645 | G# | 8 |
| 57 | 7040 | A | 8 |
| 58 | 7459 | A# | 8 |
| 59 | 7902 | B | 8 |
| 60 | 8372 | C | 9 |
| 61 | 8870 | C# | 9 |
| 62 | 9397 | D | 9 |
| 63 | 9956 | D# | 9 |
| 64 | 10548 | E | 9 |
| 65 | 11175 | F | 9 |
| 66 | 11840 | F# | 9 |
| 67 | 12544 | G | 9 |
| 68 | 13290 | G# | 9 |
| 69 | 14080 | A | 9 |
| 70 | 14917 | A# | 9 |
| 71 | 15804 | B | 9 |
Chart courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Note-octave
Note that there is no set system for pitch nomenclature. The one shown in the chart above is merely the standard which is used most often, especially in America. For this website, we will follow the assumption that C4 is middle C and so forth.
