What is the terminology for how we identify numbered notes like C4, E3, D6, etc?
Does this system - where C3 is middle C - have a standard name? For instance, is there a wikipedia page which explains this system and if so how is it titled?
(note: As mentioned middle C is C4, my mistake... leaving it as written so the answer given doesn't end up confusing.)
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It's called scientific pitch notation. Here's an explanation of it:
Scientific pitch notation (also known as American Standard Pitch
Notation) is one of several methods that name the notes of the
standard Western chromatic scale by combining a letter name,
accidentals, and a number identifying the pitch's octave. The
definition of scientific pitch notation in this article is that
proposed to the Acoustical Society of America in 1939,1 where C0 is
in the region of about 16 Hz. - Wikipedia
I don't think there's a name we give to the note naming format of C4...
The last number is the octave.
By the way, C4 is middle C, not C3.
Not every piano manufacturer gets that right.
Some start on the wrong octave because their instrument doesn't have the full 88 keys and they start labeling octave 2 as 1.
Lowest note on the standard 88 key piano is A0.
Some pipe organs have lower keys that dip into octave "-1".
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