Musical Notes

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

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