Pitch range of musical instruments
In
music
, the
range
, or
chromatic range
, of a
musical instrument
is the distance from the lowest to the highest
pitch
it can play. For a singing
voice
, the equivalent is
vocal range
. The range of a
musical part
is the distance between its lowest and highest
note
.
Compass
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Among
British English
speakers,
[1]
and perhaps others,
[2]
compass
means the same thing as chromatic range?the interval between the lowest and highest note attainable by a voice or musical instrument.
Other ranges
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The terms
sounding range
,
written range
,
designated range
,
duration range
and
dynamic range
have specific meanings.
The
sounding range
[3]
refers to the pitches produced by an instrument, while the
written range
[3]
refers to the compass (span) of notes written in the sheet music, where the part is sometimes
transposed
for convenience. A
piccolo
, for example, typically has a sounding range one
octave
higher than its written range.
[4]
The
designated range
is the set of notes the player should or can achieve while playing. All instruments have a designated range, and all pitched instruments have a playing range. Timbre, dynamics, and duration ranges are interrelated and one may achieve registral range at the expense of timbre. The designated range is thus the range in which a player is expected to have comfortable control of all aspects.
The
duration
range
is the difference between the shortest and longest rhythm used.
Dynamic range
is the difference between the quietest and loudest volume of an instrument, part or piece of music.
Range limits
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Although
woodwind instruments
and
string instruments
have no theoretical upper limit to their range (subject to practical limits), they generally cannot go below their designated range.
Brass instruments
, on the other hand, can play beyond their designated ranges. Notes lower than the brass instrument's designated range are called
pedal tones
. The playing range of a brass instrument depends on both the technical limitations of the instrument and the skill of the player.
Classical arrangements seldom make woodwind or brass instruments play beyond their designed range. String musicians play the bottom of their ranges very frequently, but the top of a string instrument's range is rather fuzzy, and it is unusual for a string player to exceed the designated range. It is quite rare for wind musicians to play the extremes of their instruments. The most common exception is that in many 20th century works, pedal tones are called for in bass trombones.
This chart uses standard numberings for octaves where
middle C
corresponds to C
4
. In the
MIDI
language middle C is referred to as MIDI note number 60.
The lowest note that a
pipe organ
can sound (with a
true pipe
) is C
?1
(or CCCC), which is 8 Hz,
below the range of human hearing
and not visible on this chart. However, if acoustic combination (a note and its fifth) counts, the lowest note is C
?2
(or CCCCC), which is 4 Hz.
In terms of recording and reproduction, many speakers have a low limit of around 40?60 Hz.
Typical ranges
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]
*
This chart only displays down to C
0
, though some pipe organs, such as the
Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ
, extend down to C
?1
(one octave below C
0
). Also, the fundamental frequency of the
subcontrabass tuba
is B
♭
?1
.
See also
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References
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]
External links
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]