C or Do is the first
note and
semitone of the
C major
C major (or the key of C) is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and ...
scale
Scale or scales may refer to:
Mathematics
* Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points
* Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original
* Scale factor, a number ...
, the third note of the
A minor
A minor is a minor scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has no flats and no sharps. Its relative major is C major and its parallel major is A major.
The A natural minor scale is:
:
Changes ...
scale (the
relative minor of C major), and the fourth note (G, A, B, C) of the
Guidonian hand, commonly
pitched around 261.63
Hz. The actual
frequency has depended on historical
pitch standards, and for
transposing instruments a distinction is made between written and sounding or
concert pitch. It has
enharmonic
In modern musical notation and tuning, an enharmonic equivalent is a note, interval, or key signature that is equivalent to some other note, interval, or key signature but "spelled", or named differently. The enharmonic spelling of a written n ...
equivalents of B and D.
In English the term ''Do'' is used interchangeably with C only by adherents of
fixed Do solfège
Fixed may refer to:
* ''Fixed'' (EP), EP by Nine Inch Nails
* ''Fixed'', an upcoming 2D adult animated film directed by Genndy Tartakovsky
* Fixed (typeface), a collection of monospace bitmap fonts that is distributed with the X Window System
* F ...
; in the
movable Do system Do refers to the
tonic of the prevailing
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
.
Frequency
Historically,
concert pitch has varied. For an instrument in
equal temperament
An equal temperament is a musical temperament or tuning system, which approximates just intervals by dividing an octave (or other interval) into equal steps. This means the ratio of the frequencies of any adjacent pair of notes is the same, wh ...
tuned to the
A440 pitch standard widely adopted in 1939, middle C has a frequency around 261.63 Hz (for other notes see
piano key frequencies).
Scientific pitch was originally proposed in 1713 by French physicist
Joseph Sauveur
Joseph Sauveur (24 March 1653 – 9 July 1716) was a French mathematician and physicist. He was a professor of mathematics and in 1696 became a member of the French Academy of Sciences.
Life
Joseph Sauveur was born in La Flèche, the son of a ...
and based on the numerically convenient frequency of 256 Hz for middle C, all C's being
powers of two. After the A440 pitch standard was adopted by musicians, the
Acoustical Society of America published new frequency tables for scientific use. A movement to restore the older A435 standard has used the banners "Verdi tuning", "philosophical pitch" or the easily confused
scientific pitch.
Octave nomenclature
Middle C
Middle'' ''C (the fourth C key from left on a standard 88-key
piano keyboard) is designated C
4 in
scientific pitch notation, and c′ in
Helmholtz pitch notation; it is note number 60 in
MIDI notation.
While the expression ''Middle C'' is generally clear across instruments and clefs, some musicians naturally use the term to refer to the C note in the middle of their specific instrument's range. C
4 may be called ''Low C'' by someone playing a
Western concert flute, which has a higher and narrower
playing range than the piano, while C
5 (523.251 Hz) would be Middle C. This technically inaccurate practice has led some pedagogues to encourage standardizing on C
4 as the definitive Middle C in instructional materials across all instruments.
On the
Grand Staff, Middle'' ''C is notated with a
ledger line above the top line of the
bass staff or below the bottom line of the
treble staff. Alternatively, it is written on the centre line of a staff using the
alto clef
A clef (from French: 'key') is a musical symbol used to indicate which notes are represented by the lines and spaces on a musical stave. Placing a clef on a stave assigns a particular pitch to one of the five lines, which defines the pit ...
, or on the fourth line from the bottom, or the second line from the top, of staves using the
tenor clef.
Other octaves
In vocal music, the term ''High C'' (sometimes called ''Top C''
) can refer to either the soprano's
''C''6 (1046.502 Hz; ''c''′′′ in Helmholtz notation) or the tenor's ''C''
5; both are written as the C two ledger lines above the treble clef but the tenor voice sings an octave lower. The term ''Low C'' is sometimes used in vocal music to refer to ''C''
2 because this is considered the divide between true basses and bass-baritones: a ''basso'' can sing this note easily, whereas other male voices, including bass-baritones, typically cannot.
''Tenor C'' is an
organ builder's term for ''small C'' or ''C''
3 (130.813 Hz), the note one
octave
In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...
below Middle C. In older stoplists it usually means that a
rank was not yet full compass, omitting the bottom octave, until that octave was added later on.
Designation by octave
Note that for a classical piano and musical theory, the middle C is usually labelled as C
4; However, in the
MIDI standard definition (like the one used in
Apple's
GarageBand
GarageBand is a line of digital audio workstations developed by Apple Inc. for macOS, iPadOS, and iOS devices that allows users to create music or podcasts. GarageBand is developed by Apple for macOS, and was once part of the iLife software s ...
), this middle C (261.626 Hz) is labelled C
3. In practice, a MIDI software can label middle C (261.626 Hz) as C
3–C
5, which can cause confusion, especially for beginners. The frequencies given in this table are based on the standard that A=440Hz and with
equal temperament
An equal temperament is a musical temperament or tuning system, which approximates just intervals by dividing an octave (or other interval) into equal steps. This means the ratio of the frequencies of any adjacent pair of notes is the same, wh ...
Graphic presentation
Scales
Common scales beginning on C
*
C major
C major (or the key of C) is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and ...
: C D E F G A B C
*
C natural minor: C D E F G A B C
* C
harmonic minor: C D E F G A B C
* C
melodic minor ascending: C D E F G A B C
* C melodic minor descending: C B A G F E D C
Diatonic scale
In music theory, a diatonic scale is any heptatonic scale that includes five whole steps (whole tones) and two half steps (semitones) in each octave, in which the two half steps are separated from each other by either two or three whole steps, ...
s
* C
Ionian
Ionic or Ionian may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Ionic meter, a poetic metre in ancient Greek and Latin poetry
* Ionian mode, a musical mode or a diatonic scale
Places and peoples
* Ionian, of or from Ionia, an ancient region in western ...
: C D E F G A B C
* C
Dorian
Dorian may refer to:
Ancient Greece
* Dorians, one of the main ethnic divisions of ancient Greeks
* Doric Greek, or Dorian, the dialect spoken by the Dorians
Art and entertainment Films
* ''Dorian'' (film), the Canadian title of the 2004 film ' ...
: C D E F G A B C
* C
Phrygian: C D E F G A B C
* C
Lydian: C D E F G A B C
* C
Mixolydian: C D E F G A B C
* C
Aeolian
Aeolian commonly refers to things related to either of two Greek mythological figures:
* Aeolus (son of Hippotes), ruler of the winds
* Aeolus (son of Hellen), son of Hellen and eponym of the Aeolians
* Aeolians, an ancient Greek tribe thought to ...
: C D E F G A B C
* C
Locrian: C D E F G A B C
Jazz melodic minor
* C
ascending melodic minor: C D E F G A B C
* C
Dorian ♭2: C D E F G A B C
* C
Lydian augmented: C D E F G A B C
* C
Lydian dominant
In music, the acoustic scale, overtone scale, Lydian dominant scale, Lydian 7 scale, or the Pontikonisian Scale is a Heptatonic scale, seven-note synthetic scale, synthetic Scale (music), scale.
:
This differs from the major scale in having an ...
: C D E F G A B C
* C
Mixolydian ♭6: C D E F G A B C
* C
Locrian ♮2: C D E F G A B C
* C
altered: C D E F G A B C
See also
*
Piano key frequencies
*
A440 (pitch standard)
*
C major
C major (or the key of C) is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and ...
*
C minor
*
Root (chord)
In music theory, the concept of root is the idea that a chord (music), chord can be represented and named by one of its Musical note, notes. It is linked to Harmony (music), harmonic thinking—the idea that vertical aggregates of notes can form ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:C (Musical Note)
Musical notes