This is a complete chart of a chromatic scale built on the note C4, or "middle C":Style Type prime second third fourth fifth sixth seventh

English name

Natural C   D   E F   G   A   BSharp C sharp D sharp F sharp G sharp A sharpFlat D flat E flat G flat A flat B flat

Symbol

Sharp C♯ D♯ F♯ G♯ A♯

Flat D♭ E♭ G♭ A♭ B♭Northern European, and Scandinavian before 1990s

Natural C D E F G A HSharp Cis Dis Fis Gis Ais

Flat Des Es Ges As B

Dutch, later Scandinavian

Natural C D E F G A BSharp Cis Dis Fis Gis AisFlat Des Es Ges As Bes

Byzantine

Natural Ni Pa Vu Ga Di Ke Zo

SharpNi diesi (or diez) Pa diesi Ga diesi Di diesi Ke diesi

Flat Pa iphes Vu iphes Di iphes Ke iphes Zo iphes

Southern & Eastern European Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si

Variant names Ut - - - So - Ti

Indian style SaRe

Komal ReGa

Komal Ga MaMa

Teevra PaDha

Komal DhaNi

Komal Ni

Korean style Da La Ma Ba Sa Ga Na

Approx. Frequency [Hz] 262 277 294 311 330 349 370 392 415 440 466 494

MIDI note number 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71

Compiled By : Kedar S. Damle

Frequencies of 3 Octaves commonly used in Singing

Note FrequencyEnglish Name

Indian Name

Trivial Name

Mandra Saptak

Madhya Saptak

Taar Saptak

C Sa White 1 130.81 261.63 523.25C# Re Komal Black 1 138.59 277.18 554.37D Re White 2 146.83 293.67 587.33D# Ga Komal Black 2 155.56 311.13 622.25E Ga White 3 164.81 329.63 659.26F Ma White 4 174.61 349.23 698.46F# Ma Teevra Black 3 185.00 369.99 739.99G Pa White 5 196.00 392.00 783.99G# Dha Komal Black 4 207.65 415.30 830.61A Dha White 6 220.00 440.00 880.00 A# Ni Komal Black 5 233.08 466.16 932.33B Ni White 7 246.94 493.88 987.77

Note:

In English Style, the Notes are attached tightly to the keys on Piano, and hence the

frequencies. This is not the case in Indian style of singing. Our “Sa” can start from any

frequency. Thus if Sa starts from frequency 277.18(C#), then Komal Re will be

293.67(D) and so on progressively.

Compiled By : Kedar S. Damle

Note frequency (hertz)

In all technicality, music can be composed of notes at any arbitrary frequency. Since the physical causes of music are vibrations of mechanical systems, they are often measured in hertz (Hz), with 1 Hz = 1 complete vibration per second. For historical and other reasons, especially in Western music, only twelve notes of fixed frequencies are used. These fixed frequencies are mathematically related to each other, and are defined around the central note, A4. The current "standard pitch" or modern "concert pitch" for this note is 440 Hz, although this varies in actual practice (see History of pitch standards).

The note-naming convention specifies a letter, any accidentals (sharps/flats), and an octave number. Any note is an integer of half-steps away from middle A (A4). Let this distance be denoted n. If the note is above A4, then n is positive; if it is below A4, then n is negative. The frequency of the note (f) (assuming equal temperament) is then:

f = 2n/12 × 440 Hz

For example, one can find the frequency of C5, the first C above A4. There are 3 half-steps between A4 and C5 (A4 → A♯4 → B4 → C5), and the note is above A4, so n = +3. The note's frequency is:

f = 23/12 × 440 Hz ≈ 523.2511 Hz.

To find the frequency of a note below A4, the value of n is negative. For example, the F below A4 is F4. There are 4 half-steps (A4 → A♭4 → G4 → G♭4 → F4), and the note is below A4, so n = −4. The note's frequency is:

f = 2−4/12 × 440 Hz ≈ 349.2290 Hz.

Finally, it can be seen from this formula that octaves automatically yield factors of two times the original frequency, since n is therefore a multiple of 12 (12k, where k is the number of octaves up or down), and so the formula reduces to:

f = 212k/12 × 440 Hz = 2k × 440 Hz,

yielding a factor of 2. In fact, this is the means by which this formula is derived, combined with the notion of equally-spaced intervals.

The distance of an equally tempered semitone is divided into 100 cents. So 1200 cents are equal to one octave — a frequency ratio of 2:1. This means that a cent is precisely equal to the 1200th root of 2, which is approximately 1.0005777895.

For use with the MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) standard, a frequency mapping is defined by:

Compiled By : Kedar S. Damle

p = 69 + 12 × log2 (f / (440 Hz))

For notes in an A440 equal temperament, this formula delivers the standard MIDI note number. Any other frequencies fill the space between the whole numbers evenly. This allows MIDI instruments to be tuned very accurately in any microtuning scale, including non-western traditional tunings.

History of note names

Music notation systems have used letters of the alphabet for centuries. The 6th century philosopher Boethius is known to have used the first fifteen letters of the alphabet to signify the notes of the two-octave range that was in use at the time. Though it is not known whether this was his devising or common usage at the time, this is nonetheless called Boethian notation.

Following this, the system of repeating letters A-G in each octave was introduced, these being written as minuscules for the second octave and double minuscules for the third. When the compass of used notes was extended down by one note, to a G, it was given the Greek G (Γ), gamma. (It is from this that the French word for scale, gamme is derived, and the English word gamut, from "Gamma-Ut", the lowest note in Medieval music notation.)

The remaining five notes of the chromatic scale (the black keys on a piano keyboard) were added gradually; the first being B which was flattened in certain modes to avoid the dissonant tritone interval. This change was not always shown in notation, but when written, B♭ (B-flat) was written as a Latin, round "b", and B♮ (B-natural) a Gothic b. These evolved into the modern flat and natural symbols respectively. The sharp symbol arose from a barred b, called the "cancelled b".

In parts of Europe, including Germany, Poland and Russia, the natural symbol transformed into the letter H: in German music notation, H is B♮ (B-natural) and B is B♭ (B-flat).

In Italian, Portuguese, Greek, French, Russian, Flemish, Romanian, Spanish, Hebrew, Bulgarian and Turkish notation the notes of scales are given in terms of Do - Re - Mi - Fa - Sol - La - Si rather than C - D - E - F - G - A - B. These names follow the original names reputedly given by Guido d'Arezzo, who had taken them from the first syllables of the first six musical phrases of a Gregorian Chant melody Ut queant laxis, which began on the appropriate scale degrees. These became the basis of the solfege system. "Do" later replaced the original "Ut" for ease of singing (most likely from the beginning of Dominus, Lord), though "Ut" is still used in some places. "Si" or "Ti" was added as the seventh degree (from Sancte Johannes, St. John, to which the hymn is dedicated).

Compiled By : Kedar S. Damle