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Why are there only seven letter-names for notes?

10K views 56 replies 21 participants last post by  Bwv 1080 
#1 ·
Why are there only seven letter-names for notes, A-B-C-D-E-F-G, and yet there are twelve notes? Watch out, it's a trick question.
 
#3 ·
Letter symbols were developed by medieval people using and theorizing about diatonic modal music. Of all the systems of letter notation used in early didactic texts to illustrate diatonic musical examples, those using the first seven letters of the alphabet proved most popular and efficient. Diatonic patterns predominated for centuries, so the seven letter names remained the basis for notation. Also, seven letter notation readily accommodated the solfege systems that were developing concurrently in choirs and singing schools.
 
#56 ·
The solfège system was invented to have names that represent the function of the notes, instead of their absolute pitch.

The goal was to not require a monochord to find the absolute pitch of notated notes, but rather have a relative representation of the music centered around the tonic, since they didn't require to have it sung at a specific pitch.

Therefore they had a reference song, where the first syllabus was the reference to the scale degree.


Ut was later changed to do, and in the begining the tetrachord was movable, and later do was always the tonic, and they added Si.

Now it gets more complicated in some countries because in France the solfegio names where more convenient to sing that letters A B C D E F G, so they started to use do re mi fa sol la si instead of C D E F G A B, around 19 centuary, to the despair of Jean Jacques Rousseau. There was a lot of debates at the time, and academics considered that movable do was something for amateur, becaus professionals preferred fixed do, because they were way past needing mobile do.

So now use fixed solfegio and the original usage of solfegio with mobile do is considered by academics something for begginners and amateurs.
 
#4 ·
It is a huge mystery to me. The whole of western music seems to have been built on an artificial construct. But I like it, so am glad someone thought it up, put it together, figured it out (whichever is applicable). But it does tend to make it rather difficult to understand music theory.
 
#6 ·
I don't consider the way music is constructed as completely artificial, it is based off of natural harmonic properties relating to mathematical concepts derived from Pythagoras and the overtone series. Like the number Pi our musical system cannot be completely specific only approximated. We must compromise these numbers to a degree to make our system work. I think this is reflective of the fact we live in an imperfect world, but to say that these rules or constructs are completely arbitrary or artificial, I believe is false.
 
#7 ·
Music has roots in perceptions of nature and in the way human cognitive processes and emotions are structured, so I agree that it isn't completely artificial. It seems unlikely that music would even exist if it didn't have such roots. But different types of music build on these natural foundations in such varied ways that I think we can say that musical styles or systems are predominantly artificial: they're collectively "invented" over time in particular cultural contexts. "Artificial" needn't imply "arbitrary."
 
#9 · (Edited)
makes it easier to notate and work with. Say if you changed the names to give each of the 12 tones a different alphabet:

A -> A
A#/Bb -> B
B -> C
C -> D
C#/Db -> E
D -> F
D#/Eb -> G
E -> H
F -> I
F#/Gb -> J
G -> K
G#/Ab -> L

instead of writing
"C major scale" = C, D, E, F, G, A, B
...
"A flat major scale" = Ab, Bb, C, Db, Eb, F, G
...
"E major scale" = E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D#

you would have to write:
"C major scale" = D, F, H, I, K, A, C
...
"A flat major scale" = L, B, D, E, G, I, K
...
"E major scale" = H, J, L, A, C, E, G

The same reason why there are only seven colors in a rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
even if there are million rainbows, it changes nothing. They'll be all red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

Watch out, it's a trick question.


 
#11 ·
I don't know, but the number seven has had a special meaning since the beginnings of human civilization.

Seven days of the week.
Christ spoke seven words from the cross
Seven celestial objects in the ancient world (Sun, Moon and five planets)
Seven deadly sins
Seven virtues
Seven colours
Seven Wonders of the World
Seven hills of Rome
Seven Dwarfs
The Magnificent Seven

But I don't know specifically the answer to your question.
 
#26 · (Edited)
About seven days in each phase of the Moon was so helpful for ancient people. And the ancients were interested that the Moon moved through 3 houses of the zodiac (with their threesome attributes) during every week. This must be significant?

..the effect of the flu was believed to be caused by the influence of the stars.
 
#14 ·
The seven letter-names for notes are also reflected in the staff, in the way we notate music. The lines and spaces are not consistent, however: In C, the steps E-F and B-C are semitones, while the rest are whole tones. Why is this? Watch out, it's a trick question.
 
G
#18 ·
millionrainbows said:
The seven letter-names for notes are also reflected in the staff, in the way we notate music. The lines and spaces are not consistent, however: In C, the steps E-F and B-C are semitones, while the rest are whole tones. Why is this? Watch out, it's a trick question.
OK, a trick question. Now stop farting about and tell us.
 
#28 ·
The scales which have maximum intervallic variety (no repeat intervals) are six-note scales. After that, from 7 to 12, redundancy begins creeping in.

Seven is also a prime number, considered by some gamblers and dice-throwers to be lucky.
 
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#35 ·
I agree aritficial doesn't imply "arbitrary".

This is a philosophical question really. I tend to the view that music, like mathematics, is a social construct. It doesn't "exist" in nature. But clearly there is a relation with the natural world. With maths, we can see that there are things (e.g. atoms) that correspond well to our social construct of numbers and that is why maths is such a powerful tool. With music, in a less precise manner, there is correspondence with our physical body systems e.g. heartbeat, appreciation of the passage of time and the sound world we live in. I would argue as well that it somehow, in ways we don't really understand, mirrors our consciousness.
 
#36 ·
I agree aritficial doesn't imply "arbitrary".

This is a philosophical question really. I tend to the view that music, like mathematics, is a social construct. It doesn't "exist" in nature. But clearly there is a relation with the natural world. With maths, we can see that there are things (e.g. atoms) that correspond well to our social construct of numbers and that is why maths is such a powerful tool. With music, in a less precise manner, there is correspondence with our physical body systems e.g. heartbeat, appreciation of the passage of time and the sound world we live in. I would argue as well that it somehow, in ways we don't really understand, mirrors our consciousness.
Well, I'd say that mathematics is a thought-construct. Plato's "ideals" are extrapolated from previous experience.

Music is much more connected to physics.
 
#47 · (Edited)
I am glad someone mentioned "H" because it is important for some musicians to know that in order to read/play music printed in German.

In German, H is B natural and B is Bb... which incidentally came in handy for Bach and he used it as the opening 4 notes of a piece.

In addition to H, Eb is Es (pronounced as "S"). It's a stretch, but some composers took it as the letter "S".

A few composers utilized this German way of spelling pitches as a composition technique.

It's fun if you can spot them.
 
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