In music, notes are distinct and isolatable sounds that act as the most basic building blocks for nearly all of music. This discretization facilitates performance, comprehension, and analysis. Notes may be visually communicated by writing them in musical notation.

Notes can distinguish the general pitch class or the specific pitch played by a pitched instrument. Although this article focuses on pitch, notes for unpitched percussion instruments distinguish between different percussion instruments (and/or different manners to sound them) instead of pitch. Note value expresses the relative duration of the note in time. Dynamics for a note indicate how loud to play them. Articulations may further indicate how performers should shape the attack and decay of the note and express fluctuations in a note's timbre and pitch. Notes may even distinguish the use of different extended techniques by using special symbols.

The term note can refer to a specific musical event, for instance when saying the song "Happy Birthday to You", begins with two notes of identical pitch. Or more generally, the term can refer to a class of identically sounding events, for instance when saying "the song begins with the same note repeated twice."

Distinguishing duration

A note can have a note value that indicates the note's duration relative to the musical meter. In order of halving duration, these values are: "American" name"British" namedouble notebrevewhole notesemibrevehalf noteminimquarter notecrotcheteighth notequaversixteenth notesemiquaverthirty-second notedemisemiquaversixty-fourth notehemidemisemiquaver𝅘𝅥𝅲hundred twenty-eighth notesemihemidemisemiquaver,quasihemidemisemiquaver Longer note values (e.g. the longa; twice the length of a breve) and shorter note values (e.g. the two hundred fifty-sixth note) do exist, but are very rare in modern times. These durations can further be subdivided using tuplets or extended using dots. Furthermore, a tie can combine two notes together to create a more specific duration which cannot be represented by a single note's value.McLaughlin, James M. (1902). Elements and Notation of Music. Boston Ginn & Co. Quoted in Music: A Monthly Magazine (1901), p.355.

A rhythm is formed from a sequence in time of consecutive notes and rests (the spaces between notes) of various durations. Rhythms are agnostic to pitches, so if a melody is transposed to a different scale, its rhythm will remain constant.Crossley-Holland, Peter.

Distinguishing pitch

Distinguishing pitches of a scale Music theory in most European countries and others use the solfège naming convention. Fixed do uses the syllables re–mi–fa–sol–la–si specifically for the C major scale, while movable do labels notes of any major scale with that same order of syllables.

Alternatively, particularly in English- and some Dutch-speaking regions, and certainly in all of Germany, pitch classes are typically represented by the first seven letters of the Latin alphabet (A, B, C, D, E, F and G), corresponding to the A minor scale. Several European countries, including Germany and Czechia, use H instead of B (see for details). Byzantium used the names Pa–Vu–Ga–Di–Ke–Zo–Ni (Πα–Βου–Γα–Δι–Κε–Ζω–Νη). A single note is sometimes called a monad.Castine, Peter. Set Theory Objects: Abstractions for Computer-Aided Analysis and Composition of Serial and Atonal Music. P. Lang, 1994. 33.

In traditional Indian music, musical notes are called svaras and commonly represented using the seven notes, Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha and Ni.

Writing notes on a staff In a score, each note is assigned a specific vertical position on a staff position (a line or space) on the staff, as determined by the clef. Each line or space is assigned a note name. These names are memorized by musicians and allow them to know at a glance the proper pitch to play on their instruments.

The staff above shows the notes C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C and then in reverse order, with no key signature or accidentals.

Accidentals

Notes that belong to the diatonic scale relevant in a tonal context are called diatonic notes. Notes that do not meet that criterion are called chromatic notes or accidentals. Accidental symbols visually communicate a modification of a note's pitch from its tonal context. Most commonly, the sharp symbol () raises a note by a half step, while the flat symbol () lowers a note by a half step. This half step interval is also known as a semitone (which has an equal temperament frequency ratio of  ≅ 1.0595). The natural symbol () indicates that any previously applied accidentals should be cancelled. Advanced musicians use the double-sharp symbol () to raise the pitch by two semitones, the double-flat symbol () to lower it by two semitones, and even more advanced accidental symbols (e.g. for quarter tones). Accidental symbols are placed to the right of a note's letter when written in text (e.g. F is F-sharp, B is B-flat, and C is C natural), but are placed to the left of a note's head when drawn on a staff.

Systematic alterations to any of the 7 lettered pitch classes are communicated using a key signature. When drawn on a staff, accidental symbols are positioned in a key signature to indicate that those alterations apply to all occurrences of the lettered pitch class corresponding to each symbol's position. Additional explicitly-noted accidentals can be drawn next to noteheads to override the key signature for all subsequent notes with the same lettered pitch class in that bar. However, this effect does not accumulate for subsequent accidental symbols for the same pitch class.

12-tone chromatic scale Assuming enharmonicity, accidentals can create pitch equivalences between different notes (e.g. the note B represents the same pitch as the note C). Thus, a 12-note chromatic scale adds 5 pitch classes in addition to the 7 lettered pitch classes.

The following chart lists names used in different countries for the 12 pitch classes of a chromatic scale built on C. Their corresponding symbols are in parentheses. Differences between German and English notation are highlighted in bold typeface. Although the English and Dutch names are different, the corresponding symbols are identical.

+Chromatic scale note naming conventions of various languages and countries EnglishC C sharp (C) D D sharp (D) E F F sharp (F) G G sharp (G) A A sharp (A) B D flat (D) E flat (E) G flat (G) A flat (A) B flat (B) German-is = sharp; -es (after consonant) and -s (after vowel) = flatC Cis (C) D Dis (D) E F Fis (F) G Gis (G) A Ais (A) H Des (D) Es (E) Ges (G) As (A) B Swedish compromise-iss = sharp; -ess (after consonant) and -ss (after vowel) = flatC Ciss (C) D Diss (D) E F Fiss (F) G Giss (G) A Aiss (A) H Dess (D) Ess (E) Gess (G) Ass (A) Bess (B) DutchC Cis (C) D Dis (D) E F Fis (F) G Gis (G) A Ais (A) B Des (D) Es (E) Ges (G) As (A) Bes (B) Romance languagesdiesis = sharp; bemolle = flatdo do diesis (do) re re diesis (re) mi fa fa diesis (fa) sol sol diesis (sol) la la diesis (la) si re bemolle (re) mi bemolle (mi) sol bemolle (sol) la bemolle (la) si bemolle (si) Byzantinediesis (or diez) = sharp; hyphesis = flatNi Ni diesis Pa Pa diesis Vu Ga Ga diesis Di Di diesis Ke Ke diesis Zo Pa hyphesis Vu hyphesis Di hyphesis Ke hyphesis Zo hyphesis Japanese (ei) = (sharp); (hen) = (flat) Ha () Ei-ha () Ni () Ei-ni () Ho () He () Ei-he () To () Ei-to () I () Ei-i () Ro () Hen-ni () Hen-ho () Hen-to () Hen-i () Hen-ro () Hindustani IndianAccording to Bhatkhande Notation. = (sharp); = (flat) Sa () Re Komal () Re () Ga Komal () Ga () Ma () Ma () Pa () Dha Komal () Dha () Ni Komal () Ni () Carnatic IndianSa Shuddha Ri (R1) Chatushruti Ri (R2) Sadharana Ga (G2) Antara Ga (G3) Shuddha Ma (M1) Prati Ma (M2) Pa Shuddha Dha (D1) Chatushruti Dha (D2) Kaisika Ni (N2) Kakali Ni (N3) Shuddha Ga (G1) Shatshruti Ri (R3) Shuddha Ni (N1) Shatshruti Dha (D3) Bengali IndianAccording to Akarmatrik Notation (আকারমাত্রিক স্বরলিপি). Kôṛi = (sharp); Komôl = (flat) Sa () Komôl Re () Re () Komôl Ga () Ga () Ma () Kôṛi Ma () Pa () Komôl Dha () Dha () Komôl Ni () Ni ()

Distinguishing pitches of different octaves Two pitches that are any whole number of octaves apart (i.e. their fundamental frequencies are in a ratio equal to a power of two) are perceived as very similar. Because of that, all notes with these kinds of relations can be grouped under the same pitch class and are often given the same name.

The top note of a musical scale is the bottom note's second harmonic and has double the bottom note's frequency. Because both notes belong to the same pitch class, they are often called by the same name. That top note may also be referred to as the "octave" of the bottom note, since an octave is the interval between a note and another with double frequency.

Middle C

Middle C is often used as a common reference point when discussing octaves. This is the C between the typical treble and bass staves; either one ledger line below the treble staff, or one ledger line above the bass. In standard tuning it has a pitch of 261.626 Hz.

Middle C is a convenient reference, as it can be played on most common instruments. It can be sung by both male and female singers. It also falls near the middle of a standard 88-key piano.

The most common tuning, the A440 pitch standard, defines the A above middle C to be exactly 440 Hz.

Scientific versus Helmholtz pitch notation

Several nomenclature systems for differentiating pitches that have the same pitch class but which fall into different octaves.

Scientific pitch notation, where a pitch class letter (C, D, E, F, G, A, B) is followed by a subscript Arabic numeral designating a specific octave. Middle C is named C4 and is the start of the 4th octave. Higher octaves use successively higher number and lower octaves use successively lower numbers (including negative numbers) The lowest note on most pianos is A0, the highest is C8. Helmholtz pitch notation, which distinguishes octaves using prime symbols and letter case of the pitch class letter. The scale is based on the C one octave below middle C (C3 in scientific pitch notation), sometimes called *tenor C*. The octave starting at tenor C are written as lower case letters, so tenor C itself is written c in Helmholtz notation. Higher octaves are notated by appending additional prime symbols above the letter. Thus, middle C is written c′, the next octave c′′, etc. Octaves below tenor C are written with upper case letters, with sub-prime symbols prepended for each additional octave. Thus the octaves below tenor C are written C, ͵C, ͵͵C, etc. A number of typographic variants exist for Helmholtz notation. For instance, primes and sub-primes may be replaced with apostrophe and comma characters, sub-primes can be placed either before or after the note letter, or letters can be repeated (͵͵C = C͵͵ = C,, = CCC). Octaves are also named (see table below). The MIDI standard for electronic musical instruments doesn't specifically designate pitch classes, but instead names pitches sequentially. The supported lowest note, , is numbered 0. Subsequent notes are numbered chromatically to the highest, number 127 Although the MIDI standard is clear, the octaves actually played by any one MIDI device don't necessarily match the octaves shown below, especially in older instruments.

For instance, the standard 440 Hz tuning pitch is named A4 in scientific notation, a′ in Helmholtz notation, and number 69 in MIDI.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" |+ Comparison of pitch naming conventions over different octaves !colspan="2"| Helmholtz notation !rowspan="2"| 'Scientific'notenames !rowspan="2"| Latin notation !rowspan="2"| MIDInotenumbers !rowspan="2"| Frequency ofthat octave's A(in hertz) !rowspan="2"| Frequency ofthat octave's C(in hertz) |- ! octave name || note names |- |style="text-align:left"|   sub-subcontra   | ͵͵͵C – ͵͵͵B || C – B || Do – Si || 0 – 11 |style="text-align:right"| 13.75   |8.176