The first thing a brand-new piano student learns is the name, and location on the keyboard, of "middle C". I've always wondered, why is that note called "middle C" rather than, say, "middle A"?
To put it another way, why were the notes assigned letters in such a way that a complete natural scale (no sharps or flats) beginning with "A" is the minor scale (modern Aolian mode) rather than the major scale (modern Ionian mode)?
