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Re: Single note very out of tune

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2017-08-25 04:48

Sean.Perrin wrote:

> Then the octave above should be C1, and the one below C-1.
> Makes more sense to me!
>

There's not really a meaningful difference between starting with C0 at the low end (with "middle C" = C4) and calling "middle C" C0 (apart from the extra keystroke needed to add the negative signs), and if everyone here agreed to use it and not C4, it would be just as clear. But middle C = C4 is a convention that's apparently widely used even outside the music world, so it's hard to see why it would be good to confuse things with another numbering.

I think it matters less how much sense a naming system makes to an individual than how well a general agreement has been established among a group in order to communicate among its members. The system that sets "middle C" as C4 wasn't invented here, and it isn't entirely connected to the piano keyboard, at least not the modern one, because C0 is a sixth below the lowest piano note. I assume it's extensible up beyond the piano's highest note and that scientists use it that way.

Can you describe pitches in other ways? Sure! But not without more words. If writers want to talk about "third line on the treble staff B" or "clarion A to altissimo C#," we'll know what you mean. If you ask about "LH C#" (or LH C) we may not. The system of numbering octaves of the C scale from C0 involves two characters, is clear and economical, and IMO not hard enough to understand to make all the fuss resisting it worthwhile.

kdk (Karl)

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Single note very out of tune new

Sean.Perrin

2017-08-19 20:47