Middle C

Part of our section on Musical Notation where we look at the elements of a music score.

This page follows on from our page on Music clefs

The bass and treble clefs meet at Middle C.

Middle C is the C on the first ledger line above the bass clef stave, and the C on the first ledger line below the treble clef stave:

Middle C is the middle C of seven Cs a piano keyboard and is also named as C4 for that reason:

A small disclaimer for brass musical instruments is that music in treble clef for brass instruments is usually written in B♭ or E♭ whereas music in bass clef is usually written in C (concert pitch). This means that middle C is not the same note in treble clef and bass clef for brass instruments. See our page on transposing instruments for more information on this.

Continue to explore musical notation on our page on Key signatures

Return to Musical Notation