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Is it Scientific pitch notation or Helmholtz pitch notation or something else entirely?

I'm writing a not-so-short story set in a conservatory, and I'm a bit over my head with terminology, and it doesn't help that all of my knowledge in this area is either in my native language or from Glee, which is American, when I'd like to keep the whole of my story in British English.

So, if a character asks his student to reach a certain note, would he ask to sing a F6 or three-line F or…?

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    Do you mean a Conservatoire? A conservatory in Britain is a room with lots of glass, and often a glass roof.
    – Tim
    Commented Aug 18, 2015 at 17:56
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    An F6 is out of range for a typical soprano, let alone a student. If you want to be really accurate that is much more important then the notation system you want to talk about.
    – Dom
    Commented Aug 18, 2015 at 17:57
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    @Tim Yes, that's exactly what I meant. Conservatoire vs. Conservatory was one of the things I was unsure about.
    – Kaworu
    Commented Aug 18, 2015 at 18:09
  • @Dom It isn't for a coloratura soprano, and it was just an example.
    – Kaworu
    Commented Aug 18, 2015 at 18:11
  • @Kaworu the "big three" music schools in the UK are not usually called "conservatoires". They are the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music, both in London, and the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. They are often referred to simply by their initials, RAM, RCM, and RNCM. Other institutions are typically called "School", "Academy", "College," or "Department of Music" at a university.
    – user19146
    Commented Aug 19, 2015 at 14:35

1 Answer 1

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If it's at the upper range of the student's voice, the teacher will just use the word "high." For example, "the high C" or "the high F" or whatever.

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    Absolutely. If the OP is just looking for the kind of language that would be used in speech, this is spot on. A teacher and pupil talking about a note wouldn't use anything complicated - that would sound contrived in a story. Commented Aug 18, 2015 at 19:47
  • Presumably the teacher is referring to a passage in a piece or etude, so perhaps "the high-C in the first development" , for example. Commented Aug 19, 2015 at 13:08
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    @CarlWitthoft - Ha ha! I can't imagine singers being that aware of music theory stuff! Commented Aug 20, 2015 at 2:30
  • @aparente001 Not all singers are sopranos :-) Commented Aug 20, 2015 at 11:22
  • @CarlWitthoft - My impression is that C would probably work if the student is a tenor. Can you suggest notes for the others, in case the author has something else in mind? Commented Aug 20, 2015 at 16:16

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