12-Notes

 

That is all there is. Twelve notes. One octave. All music that we are familiar with and hum along to is created with twelve notes.

If you want to get technical…

In music, an octave (Latin: octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the “basic miracle of music”, the use of which is “common in most musical systems”. The interval between the first and second harmonics of the harmonic series is an octave.

In Western music notation, notes separated by an octave (or multiple octaves) have the same letter name and are of the same pitch class.

To emphasize that it is one of the perfect intervals (including unison, perfect fourth, and perfect fifth), the octave is designated P8. Other interval qualities are also possible, though rare. The octave above or below an indicated note is sometimes abbreviated 8a or 8va (Italian: all’ottava), 8va bassa (Italian: all’ottava bassa, sometimes also 8vb), or simply 8 for the octave in the direction indicated by placing this mark above or below the staff.

An Octave, in music, is an interval whose higher note has a sound-wave frequency of vibration twice that of its lower note. Thus the international standard pitch A above middle C vibrates at 440 hertz (cycles per second); the octave above this A vibrates at 880 hertz, while the octave below it vibrates at 220 hertz.

A standard, full-sized piano has 52 white keys and 36 black keys, 88 keys total, which give us seven full octaves. While playing an octave means playing the white notes, or major keys, it also includes five black keys, which are the minor notes within an octave.

I could delve down into all that musical theory and technical definition of sound and pitch and all that stuff, but the point is all the songs you like are done with 12-notes.

I’m not disregarding the # and ♭ notes but know that an A# is a B♭.

So the next time you sit down to play some music, remember it is just 12-notes.