While musical tastes may differ from person to persona, all music is built up from the same set of notes. The note is determined by the frequency of the sound, but the situation is made more complicated than it need be by the existence of two different scales.
The scientific or diatomic scale is based in middle C having a frequency of 256 Hz,
The musicians or evenly tempered scale is based on the note A having a frequency of 440 Hz. On this scale C has a frequency of 261.6 Hz.
The frequency ratio for two notes one octave apart is 2:1, while for a fifth it is 1.5:1. on the scientific scale the frequency ratio for a semitone is 1.0595:1. 1.0595 is the twelfth root of 2.
The two scales are shown in the table
|
Note |
Frequency, Scientific Scale |
Frequency, Musicians Scale |
Note |
Frequency, Scientific Scale |
Frequency, Musicians Scale |
|
C |
32 |
32.6 |
C |
256 |
261.6 |
|
D |
36 |
36.6 |
D |
288 |
293.7 |
|
E |
40 |
41.2 |
E |
320 |
329.6 |
|
F |
47.6 |
43.7 |
F |
341 |
349.2 |
|
G |
48 |
48.9 |
G |
384 |
392 |
|
A |
53.3 |
55 |
A |
427 |
440 |
|
B |
60 |
61.7 |
B |
480 |
493.9 |
|
C |
64 |
65.4 |
C |
512 |
523.3 |
|
D |
72 |
73.3 |
D |
576 |
587.4 |
|
E |
80 |
82.4 |
E |
640 |
659.4 |
|
F |
85.2 |
87.3 |
F |
682 |
698.7 |
|
G |
96 |
98 |
G |
768 |
784.3 |
|
A |
106.7 |
110 |
A |
864 |
880 |
|
B |
120 |
123.5 |
B |
960 |
987.8 |
|
C |
128 |
130.8 |
C |
1024 |
1046.6 |
|
D |
144 |
146.7 |
D |
1152 |
1174.6 |
|
E |
160 |
164.8 |
E |
129.6 |
1318.8 |
|
F |
170.5 |
174.6 |
F |
1365 |
1396.7 |
|
G |
192 |
196 |
G |
1536 |
1567.9 |
|
A |
213.5 |
220 |
A |
1728 |
1760 |
|
B |
240 |
247 |
B |
1944 |
1975.7 |
|
C |
256 |
261.6 |
C |
2048 |
2093.2 |