PIANUMERO
Do Re Mi or C D E?
A piano has the same seven white keys everywhere, repeated up and down the keyboard. What changes from one country to another is their names. Here they are, side by side.
From C: C D E F G A B · Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si · German: C D E F G A H
The names, country by country
| System | The white keys, from C | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Letters | C D E F G A B | English-speaking countries, and chord names almost everywhere (C, Am, G7) |
| Fixed do | Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si | France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Latin America, Vietnam and many others: do is always C |
| German | C D E F G A H | Germany, Austria, German-speaking Switzerland, Central Europe and Scandinavia: H is B, and B means B♭ |
| Tonic sol-fa | Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti | Singing in English-speaking schools: do is the first note of the scale, whatever the key |
| Japanese | ハ ニ ホ ヘ ト イ ロ (ha ni ho he to i ro) | Japan, for keys (C major is ハ長調, ha-chōchō); do re mi (ドレミ) is used in school |
Pianumero writes notes in letters (C D E) and adds the octave (C4), because letters are what you meet in chord charts, apps and most piano books in English. If you learned do ré mi, read C as do, D as re, E as mi and so on: the keys are the same.
Sharps and flats: the black keys
A black key takes its name from a white key next to it: sharp (♯) is the key just above, flat (♭) the key just below. The black key between C and D is both C♯ and D♭.
| System | How sharps and flats are said | The five black keys, as sharps |
|---|---|---|
| Letters | C♯ (C sharp), D♭ (D flat) | C♯ D♯ F♯ G♯ A♯ |
| Fixed do | Do♯ (do dièse in French, do diesis in Italian, do sostenido in Spanish), Re♭ (ré bémol, re bemolle, re bemol) | Do♯ Re♯ Fa♯ Sol♯ La♯ |
| German | -is for sharp, -es for flat: Cis, Des; Es (E♭), As (A♭), and B for B♭ | Cis Dis Fis Gis Ais (the same key as B, German for B♭) |
Octave numbers
The same letter comes back eight white keys up, counting the first one: that distance is an octave. To tell them apart, a number gives the octave: middle C is C4, the C above it is C5, the A above it is A4 (the standard tuning pitch, 440 Hz). On an 88-key piano the lowest key is A0 and the highest C8. Every Pianumero song page says where its key 1 is with this name, for example Find key 1: E4 (above middle C).
Where the names come from
Do re mi goes back to Guido of Arezzo, an Italian monk who, around 1030, taught singers with a hymn to Saint John, Ut queant laxis: each of its half-lines starts one note higher, on the syllables ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la. Si was added later, from the initials of the hymn's last words, Sancte Iohannes, and ut became do, easier to sing, in 17th-century Italy (the change is usually credited to Giovanni Battista Doni). Letters are older still: medieval writers named the notes after the first letters of the alphabet, starting from A. The German H comes from the two ways of writing the letter b in those books, a round b for the lower note (B♭) and a square b for the higher one, which scribes and then printers turned into an h.
Songs to try
Learned do ré mi? These songs may be familiar: Frère Jacques · Au Clair de la Lune · À la claire fontaine · Bella Ciao. Each song page gives its keys with their letters: read C as do, D as re, E as mi.
Note names: questions
Is do the same as C?
In fixed-do countries (France, Italy, Spain, Latin America…), yes: do is always C, re is D, mi is E. In tonic sol-fa, taught for singing in English-speaking schools, do is the first note of the scale, so it is C only in C major.
What is H in music?
In German and in much of Central Europe and Scandinavia, H is the note called B in English, and B means B flat. A German score of Bach's B minor Mass says h-Moll.
Why ti and not si?
In the 19th century, English tonic sol-fa renamed si so that each syllable starts with a different letter (so and si both started with s): te in Britain, ti in the United States. French, Italian and Spanish kept si.
Is middle C C4 or C3?
In the most common naming, middle C is C4, and Pianumero uses it. Some software and keyboards call it C3, and in French-speaking countries it is often do 3: same key, different counting.
More guides
How piano numbers work
What 1 means, why key numbers are not finger numbers, what numbers teach and what they don't, and how to move on to letters.
Falling notes
The next step after numbers: each note falls onto its key, and its length shows how long to hold it. Free on every song.
Piano letter notes
How to read a song written in letters (E E F G…): the seven letters, sharps and flats, which octave, and what letters leave out.
Where is middle C?
Find middle C (C4) on any piano or keyboard, 88, 76, 61 or 49 keys, and why so many songs start around it.
Piano keys labeled
Every key named: the white and black keys of one octave, how many keys each keyboard has, and how the pattern repeats.
Written by Loïc Berthod, who makes Pianumero.