Octave

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[edit] Description

An octave is the distance between two musical notes which have the same letter name. If you sing or play a scale (‘doh-ray-me-fah-soh-la-te-doh’) the first and last ‘doh’ are an octave apart. It is called an ‘octave’ because there are eight notes in a scale (‘octo’ is Latin for ‘eight’).

If you sing or play the first two notes of the song “Somewhere over the rainbow” (i.e. the word ‘Somewhere’) these two notes are an octave apart.

Two notes which are an octave apart sound very similar, almost like the same note. The scientific reason for this is that the top note vibrates twice as fast. For example: if you play Middle C on the piano a hammer hits the three Middle C strings inside and makes them vibrate at 256 times a second. The C an octave higher will vibrate at 512 times a second.

Young children who learn the piano will not be able to stretch an octave with one hand as their hands will be too small. Most grown-ups can stretch an octave quite easily (playing one note with the thumb and the other with the little finger). Advanced pianists can practise scales in octaves. Violinists can play scales in octaves, too, playing on two strings at once, but this is extremely hard.

See also: Musical intervals