Random questions.

[Definitions]

Can somebody explain to me why music has 7 notes in an octave/scale?
Let's say on a keyboard, all the way to the left is the lowest sound. Every button to the right is a higher pitch or whatever you want to call it. So why should there only be 7 (or 12 if you count the black buttons) between each set?

I read/heard something along the lines that those are the only different sounds. Meaning button number one and number 8 are both the same sound just different in something. What is that something?

I tried looking it up but I'm getting confused with all the names.

[shapsam]

Can somebody explain to me why music has 7 notes in an octave/scale?
Let's say on a keyboard, all the way to the left is the lowest sound. Every button to the right is a higher pitch or whatever you want to call it. So why should there only be 7 (or 12 if you count the black buttons) between each set?

I read/heard something along the lines that those are the only different sounds. Meaning button number one and number 8 are both the same sound just different in something. What is that something?

I tried looking it up but I'm getting confused with all the names.

That something is the same tone in a higher octave, what's so hard to understand?
When you find another sound other than the ones on a keyboard, let me know (hint: it doesn't exist).

[etech0]

FWIW there are really more than 8, if you count the black keys also you get 13

[Definitions]

That something is the same tone in a higher octave, what's so hard to understand?
When you find another sound other than the ones on a keyboard, let me know (hint: it doesn't exist).

Yes that is what I find hard to understand. In what way is it the same tone when it's just a higher pitch. Unless I'm tone deaf and can't hear it

[whYME]

That something is the same tone in a higher octave, what's so hard to understand?
When you find another sound other than the ones on a keyboard, let me know (hint: it doesn't exist).

Obviously he's having a problem with the Definitions of tone and octave etc

[etech0]

Yes that is what I find hard to understand. In what way is it the same tone when it's just a higher pitch. Unless I'm tone deaf and can't hear it

If someone sings a song and starts on a certain key, and someone sings along and starts on the same note but one octave (8 notes) higher, it will sound nice together. (think of a father and daughter singing together, it can still be the same song.)

If 2 people sing a song together and one person starts, say, 7 notes higher (or any number between 1-7), it will sound awful.

[justaregularguy]

Yes that is what I find hard to understand. In what way is it the same tone when it's just a higher pitch. Unless I'm tone deaf and can't hear it

actually if you listen carefully to 2 of the same notes one octave higher than the other you should be able to hear a relative similarity to each other....I’m not sure if it has to do with tone deaf just you have to get used to what notes sound like (I have a friend who is quite tone deaf when you hear him sing, but he’s a professional electric guitar player-so he hears the notes, just not from his voice  I guess)

[etech0]

actually if you listen carefully to 2 of the same notes one octave higher than the other you should be able to hear a relative similarity to each other....I’m not sure if it has to do with tone deaf just you have to get used to what notes sound like (I have a friend who is quite tone deaf when you hear him sing, but he’s a professional electric guitar player-so he hears the notes, just not from his voice  I guess)

sounds like 'tone mute' more than 'tone deaf' in that case!

[Definitions]

Obviously he's having a problem with the Definitions of tone and octave etc

I see what you did there

If someone sings a song and starts on a certain key, and someone sings along and starts on the same note but one octave (8 notes) higher, it will sound nice together. (think of a father and daughter singing together, it can still be the same song.)

If 2 people sing a song together and one person starts, say, 7 notes higher (or any number between 1-7), it will sound awful.

Understood but that's not answering the question.

actually if you listen carefully to 2 of the same notes one octave higher than the other you should be able to hear a relative similarity to each other....I’m not sure if it has to do with tone deaf just you have to get used to what notes sound like (I have a friend who is quite tone deaf when you hear him sing, but he’s a professional electric guitar player-so he hears the notes, just not from his voice  I guess)

I just downloaded a piano app. I hear the similarities but I'm still not sure why.

[justaregularguy]

You hear the similarities but your not sure why?  There are a limited amount of notes on the spectrum. It seems to be part of nature

[etech0]

Understood but that's not answering the question.I just downloaded a piano app. I hear the similarities but I'm still not sure why.

It has to do with the frequency of the sound waves that represent each note.

Does this help? https://www.quora.com/Why-does-an-octave-contain-8-notes

[Live N Learn]

FWIW there are really more than 8, if you count the black keys also you get 13

Those are half notes.

[etech0]

Those are half notes.

Each of those is one half step above the prior one, but if you don't count the black keys then some notes are a half step above the prior, and some are a whole step. (Just spelling it out even though I'm sure you know that )

[justaregularguy]

Each of those is one half step above the prior one, but if you don't count the black keys then some notes are a half step above the prior, and some are a whole step. (Just spelling it out even though I'm sure you know that )

so C is a half step above B and F is half step above E? ( bc there’s no black key in those places)

[etech0]

so C is a half step above B and F is half step above E? ( bc there’s no black key in those places)

yes.

That's why when you try to play a song in a different scale (eg: starting on a different white key/note), you will have to use some black keys or it will sound off - because each key needs to be the right number of steps above the key before.

Most songs will only/mostly use keys in one scale - which means 7 different keys/notes (8 if you count the last one which is really the same as the first). Pianos are set up so that if you are playing in the key of C, you'll only need to use the white keys (with a few exceptions). Those would be C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C.

[justaregularguy]

Why is it that B and C are only half step above each other ? Shouldn’t B just be a black key then?

(Perhaps you’re second paragraph may have answered my question- they figured if B was black it would push all the keys down and not be as easy to play in the classic setup...not sure)

[Live N Learn]

I hear the similarities but I'm still not sure why.

Not the best example, but in the beginning you could hear Motty Steinmetz singing on an octave higher than the choir, and at 00:46  Ahrele Samet goes up an octave.

[etech0]

Why is it that B and C are only half step above each other ? Shouldn’t B just be a black key then?

(Perhaps you’re second paragraph may have answered my question- they figured if B was black it would push all the keys down and not be as easy to play in the classic setup...not sure)

The second paragraph basically answers it - the way songs work is that they mostly use 7 notes out of the 12 distinct notes.  Which 7 notes will depend on which scale the song is played in at the time. The 7 notes that are used / that are part of the scale will always be in a certain setup where if you start from the first note of the scale, you will then move up steps according to the following formula:
[start with a note, eg: C]
up whole step -> D
up whole step -> E
up half step -> F
up whole step -> G
up whole step -> A
up whole step ->B
up half step -> C (this is a repeat of the 1st).

When playing in different scales, you start somewhere else but use the same formula to figure out which other notes you're using, so you will end up using black keys.

[etech0]

Not the best example, but in the beginning you could hear Motty Steinmetz singing on an octave higher than the choir, and at 00:46  Ahrele Samet goes up an octave.

the embed is not working

[skyguy918]

Can somebody explain to me why music has 7 notes in an octave/scale?
Let's say on a keyboard, all the way to the left is the lowest sound. Every button to the right is a higher pitch or whatever you want to call it. So why should there only be 7 (or 12 if you count the black buttons) between each set?

I read/heard something along the lines that those are the only different sounds. Meaning button number one and number 8 are both the same sound just different in something. What is that something?

I tried looking it up but I'm getting confused with all the names.

It has to do with the frequency of the sound waves that represent each note.

Does this help? https://www.quora.com/Why-does-an-octave-contain-8-notes

So first of all, as pointed out in the link, you can actually divide an octave (which is the interval where the frequency of one tone is double the other) into any number of notes. The most common is the system used in a piano (and most common instruments), where it's dividend into 7 notes (plus the half notes). That's why it was called octave, which is from the Latin for eighth (this includes the first and last tone, even though only 1 can be included within the octave).

As far as why things were set up this way, it comes back to the sounds waves concept, and what will sound good together. If you can't hear it on a note by note basis, know that you can likely pick any song that you like, and the fact that it sounds good can be traced back to how it was arranged, based on this concept.