Seven names that repeat · Notes and the staff · Music theory
The notes are named with letters: C, D, E, F, G, A and B. After B comes C again, an octave higher: the same name at twice the frequency, which the ear…
Seven names that repeat
The notes are named with letters: C, D, E, F, G, A and B. After B comes C again, an octave higher: the same name at twice the frequency, which the ear hears as the same note, higher up.
In Spanish, Italian and French the same notes are called Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La and Si, starting from C (and in German, H is B and B is B♭).
Where the names come from
The names come from a hymn to Saint John, Ut queant laxis, in which each line starts one note higher. Guido of Arezzo took the first syllable of each line, around 1025, to teach singing: ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la. Si was added later, from the initials of Sancte Ioannes, and in the 17th century Giovanni Battista Doni changed ut to do, easier to sing.
English- and German-speaking countries use letters, an even older heritage. They are worth knowing: they appear in popular-music chords and in many titles.