(PN) Pitch Notation Lesson

Pitch Notation

Musical pitch can basically be described as the ordering of sound to be higher or lower in frequency. When we hear a note that sounds high or a note that sounds low, we are determining pitch. Musical pitches or notes can be shown on a music staff, and by their placement on the staff, can be determined to be high or low sounding. The higher the placement on the musical staff, the higher the pitch and the lower the placement on the musical staff, the lower the pitch.

As we learned in the previous module, the musical staff can inform us to a note's name by the line or space it is written on.

We also learned in the last module that rhythm determines a note's duration so by combining the pitch and rhythm, we now have a standardized way to read music.

There are octave designations to notes that are categorized (0-8). In the middle of the piano keyboard (in turquoise below) you see Middle C or C4, The C that is one octave above Middle C is C5 and the C that is one octave lower than Middle C is known as C3.

Knowing the note names on a piano keyboard is important to music theory students. Below is an image of the note names of the white keys that encompass a little more than two octaves (from C3 to E5). The same placement of note names occurs throughout the entire piano keyboard.

The note names and octave designations for each note with an arrow (from left to right) would be:

1. G1
2. F2
3. A3
4. A4
5. D6
6. E7

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