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Middle C
 
 
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C or Do is the first note of the fixed-Do solfège
Solfege

In music, solf?ge is a pedagogical solmization technique for the teaching of sight-singing in which each note of the score is sung to a special syllable, called a solf?ge syllable ....
.

In Western music
Western music

Western music is the genres of music originating in the Western world including European classical music, American Jazz, Country and Western, pop music and rock and roll....
, the expression "Middle C" refers to the note "C" located exactly between the two staves
Staff (music)

In standard Western musical notation, the stave is a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces, each of which represents a different musical pitch , or, in the case of a percussion staff, different percussion instruments....
 of the grand staff and near the top and bottom, respectively, of the bass and soprano
Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four part chorale style harmony the soprano takes the highest part which usually encompasses the melody....
 voices. When calculated in equal temperament
Equal temperament

Equal temperament is a musical temperament, or a system of Musical tuning in which every pair of adjacent notes has an identical frequency ratios....
 with a reference of A above middle C as 440
A440

A440 or Concert A is the 440 Hertz tone that serves as the standard for musical pitch . A440 is the musical note A above middle C .Prior to the standardization on 440 Hz, many countries and organizations followed the 435 Hz recommendation the Austrian government made in 1885....
 Hz
Hertz

The hertz is a measure of frequency per unit of time, or the number of list of cycles per second. It is the SI base unit of frequency in the International System of Units , and is used worldwide in both general-purpose and scientific contexts....
, the frequency
Frequency

Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. It is also referred to as temporal frequency.The period is the duration of one cycle in a repeating event, so the period is the reciprocal of the frequency....
 of the middle C note is approximately 261.626 Hz; see pitch (music)
Pitch (music)

Pitch represents the perceived fundamental frequency of a sound. It is one of the three major auditory system attributes of sounds along with loudness and timbre....
 for a discussion of historical variations in frequency.

Middle C is designated C4 in scientific pitch notation
Scientific pitch notation

Scientific pitch notation is one of several methods that name the notes of the standard Western music chromatic scale by combining a letter-name, accidental , and a number identifying the Pitch 's octave....
 because of the note's position as the fourth C key on a standard 88-key piano
Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard instrument. Widely used in Western music for solo performance, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to musical composition and rehearsal....
 keyboard.






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C or Do is the first note of the fixed-Do solfège
Solfege

In music, solf?ge is a pedagogical solmization technique for the teaching of sight-singing in which each note of the score is sung to a special syllable, called a solf?ge syllable ....
.

In Western music
Western music

Western music is the genres of music originating in the Western world including European classical music, American Jazz, Country and Western, pop music and rock and roll....
, the expression "Middle C" refers to the note "C" located exactly between the two staves
Staff (music)

In standard Western musical notation, the stave is a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces, each of which represents a different musical pitch , or, in the case of a percussion staff, different percussion instruments....
 of the grand staff and near the top and bottom, respectively, of the bass and soprano
Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four part chorale style harmony the soprano takes the highest part which usually encompasses the melody....
 voices. When calculated in equal temperament
Equal temperament

Equal temperament is a musical temperament, or a system of Musical tuning in which every pair of adjacent notes has an identical frequency ratios....
 with a reference of A above middle C as 440
A440

A440 or Concert A is the 440 Hertz tone that serves as the standard for musical pitch . A440 is the musical note A above middle C .Prior to the standardization on 440 Hz, many countries and organizations followed the 435 Hz recommendation the Austrian government made in 1885....
 Hz
Hertz

The hertz is a measure of frequency per unit of time, or the number of list of cycles per second. It is the SI base unit of frequency in the International System of Units , and is used worldwide in both general-purpose and scientific contexts....
, the frequency
Frequency

Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. It is also referred to as temporal frequency.The period is the duration of one cycle in a repeating event, so the period is the reciprocal of the frequency....
 of the middle C note is approximately 261.626 Hz; see pitch (music)
Pitch (music)

Pitch represents the perceived fundamental frequency of a sound. It is one of the three major auditory system attributes of sounds along with loudness and timbre....
 for a discussion of historical variations in frequency.

Middle C is designated C4 in scientific pitch notation
Scientific pitch notation

Scientific pitch notation is one of several methods that name the notes of the standard Western music chromatic scale by combining a letter-name, accidental , and a number identifying the Pitch 's octave....
 because of the note's position as the fourth C key on a standard 88-key piano
Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard instrument. Widely used in Western music for solo performance, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to musical composition and rehearsal....
 keyboard. While other note-octave systems (including those used by some manufacturers of digital music keyboards) may refer to "Middle C" with a different designation, the C4 designation is the most commonly recognized in auditory science and in musical studies it is frequently used in place of the Helmholtz
Helmholtz pitch notation

Helmholtz pitch notation is a musical system for naming notes of the western music chromatic scale. Developed by the Germany scientist Hermann von Helmholtz, it uses a combination of upper case and lower case letters , and the sub- and super-prime symbols to describe each individual note of the scale....
 designation c'.

While the expression "Middle C" is generally clear across instruments and clefs, some musicians tend to use the term to refer to the C note in the middle of their specific instrument's range. For example, C4 may be called "Low C" by someone playing a Western concert flute
Western concert flute

The Western concert flute or C flute is a transverse woodwind instrument made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute....
 (which has a higher and narrower playing range than a piano), while C5 (523.251 Hz) would be "Middle C". This technically inaccurate practice has led some pedagogues to encourage standardizing on C4 as the definitive "Middle C" in instructional materials across all instruments.

Within vocal music the term Soprano C, sometimes called High C, is the C two octave
Octave

In music, an octave The octave is occasionally referred to as a diapason.The octave above an indicated note is sometimes abbreviated 8va, and the octave below 8vb....
s above Middle C. It is named because it is considered the defining note of the soprano voice type
Voice type

A voice type is a particular kind of human singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics. Voice classification is the process by which human voices are evaluated and are thereby designated into voice types....
. It is also called C6 in scientific pitch notation. In Helmholtz notation, it is c'?. The term Tenor C is sometimes used in vocal music to refer to C5 as it is the highest required note in the standard Tenor repertoire. The term tenor C can also refer to an organ (musical instrument) builder's term for small C or C3, the note one octave
Octave

In music, an octave The octave is occasionally referred to as a diapason.The octave above an indicated note is sometimes abbreviated 8va, and the octave below 8vb....
 below Middle C. In stoplists
List of pipe organs

This is a list and brief description of notable pipe organs in the world, with links to corresponding articles that exist.See also: :Category:Pipe organs...
 it usually means that a rank
Organ stop

An organ stop is a component of a pipe organ which admits pressurized air to a set of organ pipes. Its name comes from the fact that stops can be used selectively by the organist; some can be "on" , while other can be "off" ....
 is not full compass, omitting the bottom octave.

For the frequency of each note on a standard piano, see piano key frequencies
Piano key frequencies

This is a virtual piano showing the frequencies in cycles per second , of each of the 88 keys on a piano , with the 49th note, the fifth A , tuned to 440 cycles per second ....
.

Designation by octave

Scientific
Scientific pitch notation

Scientific pitch notation is one of several methods that name the notes of the standard Western music chromatic scale by combining a letter-name, accidental , and a number identifying the Pitch 's octave....
 Designation		Helmholtz
Helmholtz pitch notation

Helmholtz pitch notation is a musical system for naming notes of the western music chromatic scale. Developed by the Germany scientist Hermann von Helmholtz, it uses a combination of upper case and lower case letters , and the sub- and super-prime symbols to describe each individual note of the scale....
 Designation		Bilinear Music NotationOctave NameFrequency (Hz)
C-1C???(-uC)Subsubcontra8.176
C0C??(-vC)Subcontra16.352
C1C?(-wC)Contra32.703
C2C(-xC)Great65.406
C3c(-yC)Small130.813
C4 :Middle Cc' :Middle C(zC) :Middle COne-lined261.626
C5c''(yC)Two-lined523.251
C6c'''(xC)Three-lined1046.502
C7c''''(wC)Four-lined2093.005
C8c'''''(vC)Five-lined4186.009
C9c''''''(uC)Six-lined8372.018


Graphic presentation


See also

  • Piano key frequencies
    Piano key frequencies

    This is a virtual piano showing the frequencies in cycles per second , of each of the 88 keys on a piano , with the 49th note, the fifth A , tuned to 440 cycles per second ....