Octave Identification

Because a specific pitch can occur in many octaves, it is useful to have a method for identifying the octave of the pitch. The most common method for identifying octaves is based on the piano. The lowest C on the piano being the beginning of octave 1. The three lowest notes on a piano (A, Bb, B) use only the letter names without an octave number. Notice that octaves start with the pitch C and go up to B, they do not start with the pitch A.

For a review of treble and bass clef notes see The Treble Clef and The Bass Clef.

To review Accidentals go to Understanding Accidentals.

Octave 1

        𝅝      𝅝     𝅝     𝅝    𝅝    𝅝   𝅝

C1 D1 E1 F1 G1 A1 B1

Octave 3

        𝅝    𝅝   𝅝   𝅝  𝅝

    𝅝 𝅝 𝅝 𝅝 𝅝 𝅝 𝅝

C3 D3 E3 F3 G3 A3 B3

Octave 4

      𝅝 𝅝 𝅝 𝅝 𝅝 𝅝 𝅝

     𝅝  𝅝   𝅝   𝅝    𝅝

C4 D4 E4 F4 G4 A4 B4

Octave 6

     𝅝   𝅝    𝅝    𝅝     𝅝     𝅝      𝅝

C6 D6 E6 F6 G6 A6 B6

Octave 7

     𝅝   𝅝    𝅝    𝅝     𝅝     𝅝      𝅝  ------------------ 

C7 D7 E7 F7 G7 A7 B7

Octave Identification

Octave 0

Octave 1

Octave 2

Octave 3

Octave 4

Octave 5

Octave 6

Octave 7

Octave 8