I'm bad at math, explain E6 and C6, an E note taken to the 6th relm? It's just a system of labeling notes that's based on the octaves of a grand piano. Its fancy name is scientific pitch notation, and all American musicians would be privy to it. Don't worry about the math. There's little math involved other than the numbers used to label the notes.
Everyone is familiar with standard alphabetical pitch notation (A, B, C, D, E, F, G). Now, let's think of the note 'C' as a “home” note. The lowest C on a grand piano is labeled C1, the one above that is called C2, and so on and so forth.
The notes in between two Cs are pinned with the number of the preceding C. It goes like this: C1, D1, E1, etc. So, for example, the note labeled A in between a C1 and a C2 is called A1.
To your question specifically: C6, also called soprano C, is a really high note that's a part of a soprano's toolbox. E6 would be the really high note above that (C, C-sharp, D, D-sharp,E).
To hear them in action and in relation to each other when performed by the human voice, you could listen to the final passage--the final bits of music--of the song “The Phantom of the Opera.” You know, the part that's prerecorded. In it, you'll hear Christine sustain three C6s (the aforementioned soprano C) followed at the very end by an E6.
Updated On: 8/13/12 at 07:19 AM
