Scientific pitch notation

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Scientific Pitch Notation (also known as note-octave notation) in Western music is a method of naming the notes of the standard Western chromatic scale by combining a letter-name, accidentals, and an Arabic numeral identifying the pitch's octave.

As an example, A4 refers to the A above middle C.

Note that the symbol Cb4 means "the pitch one chromatic step below the pitch C4" and not "the pitch-class Cb in octave 4." Thus, Cb4 is the same pitch as B3, not B4. The letter name is first combined with the Arabic numeral to determine a specific pitch, which is then altered by applying accidentals. For this reason, the notation C4b would be slightly more consistent, though significantly less legible.

Scientific pitch notation is useful, for example, when describing the written pitch and sounding pitch of a transposing instrument. However, there is no one standard which correlates any particular octave number to a specific frequency range. For instance, traditional pitch class notation, Japanese MIDI specs and American MIDI specs may specify dissimilar ordinals for middle C (C3 vs. C4). In addition, this notation system assumes 12 tone equal temperament and does not specify that A above middle C must conform to ISO 16 frequency standard (440.00 Hz).

Half tones from middle C	Frequency (Hz)	Note name	Octave number
−48	16.35	C	0
−47	17.32	C#	0
−46	18.35	D	0
−45	19.45	D#	0
−44	20.60	E	0
−43	21.83	F	0
−42	23.12	F#	0
−41	24.50	G	0
−40	25.96	G#	0
−39	27.5	A	0
−38	29.14	A#	0
−37	30.87	B	0
−36	32.70	C	1
−35	34.65	C#	1
−34	36.71	D	1
−33	38.89	D#	1
−32	41.20	E	1
−31	43.65	F	1
−30	46.25	F#	1
−29	49.00	G	1
−28	51.91	G#	1
−27	55	A	1
−26	58.27	A#	1
−25	61.74	B	1
−24	65.41	C	2
−23	69.30	C#	2
−22	73.42	D	2
−21	77.78	D#	2
−20	82.41	E	2
−19	87.31	F	2
−18	92.50	F#	2
−17	98.00	G	2
−16	103.8	G#	2
−15	110	A	2
−14	116.5	A#	2
−13	123.5	B	2
−12	130.8	C	3
−11	138.6	C#	3
−10	146.8	D	3
−9	155.6	D#	3
−8	164.8	E	3
−7	174.6	F	3
−6	185	F#	3
−5	196	G	3
−4	207.7	G#	3
−3	220	A	3
−2	233.1	A#	3
−1	246.9	B	3
0	261.6	C	4
1	277.2	C#	4
2	293.7	D	4
3	311.1	D#	4
4	329.6	E	4
5	349.2	F	4
6	370	F#	4
7	392	G	4
8	415.3	G#	4
9	440	A	4
10	466.2	A#	4
11	493.9	B	4
12	523.3	C	5
13	554.4	C#	5
14	587.3	D	5
15	622.3	D#	5
16	659.3	E	5
17	698.5	F	5
18	740	F#	5
19	784	G	5
20	830.6	G#	5
21	880	A	5
22	932.3	A#	5
23	987.8	B	5
24	1047	C	6
25	1109	C#	6
26	1175	D	6
27	1245	D#	6
28	1319	E	6
29	1397	F	6
30	1480	F#	6
31	1568	G	6
32	1661	G#	6
33	1760	A	6
34	1865	A#	6
35	1976	B	6
36	2093	C	7
37	2217	C#	7
38	2349	D	7
39	2489	D#	7
40	2637	E	7
41	2794	F	7
42	2960	F#	7
43	3136	G	7
44	3322	G#	7
45	3520	A	7
46	3729	A#	7
47	3951	B	7
48	4186	C	8
49	4435	C#	8
50	4699	D	8
51	4978	D#	8
52	5274	E	8
53	5588	F	8
54	5920	F#	8
55	6272	G	8
56	6645	G#	8
57	7040	A	8
58	7459	A#	8
59	7902	B	8
60	8372	C	9
61	8870	C#	9
62	9397	D	9
63	9956	D#	9
64	10548	E	9
65	11175	F	9
66	11840	F#	9
67	12544	G	9
68	13290	G#	9
69	14080	A	9
70	14917	A#	9
71	15804	B	9