Why does Germany have an H note?

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Use code DAVID25 to get a further 25% off my new 'Piano for Beginners' course: www.artmaster.com/course/piano?+video&+H+in+Germany&+david+bennett 🎹😁🎼

David, remember since the days of the white man(Spaniard) conquering(Native American Indian) México and all Latin America in 1519 and onward.. The Solfege notation system was brought over by the Spaniards and has been used in North, Central and South America.since then. Think in a more global and historical view. Not just England and Europe!

[@IAMASTICKSTUPIDPERSON]

So we can laugh about notes

[@TheFoo_Fighter]

I learned that the h developed from poor handwriting, not properly closing the circle of the b, resulting in a lower case h. What do you think of that?

[@KoopmanBachFan]

5555455

[@stratman9449]

things could be so simple, if it weren' for people all over the place doing their "own" thing......😅

[@juli1403]

1:58 What's pretty interesting is that "durum" and "molle" sound very similar to "dur" and "moll" which are the German words for major and minor

[@kukquakk4716]

That‘s because of the overtonal properties of the two different thirds. While the major third sounds stronger (Latin: durum - hard) the minor third sounds softer (Latin: molle - soft).

[@prodNieva]

my god

[@UnfriendlyGhostK]

It's the same in Norwegian too! And I've just had a thought, completely off subject from music theory, but, is this the same as Durum wheat flour which is used in pasta making?

[@JoriDiculous]

@@UnfriendlyGhostK does that mean "Molle", was the place you milled the Durum ?

[@MarceloKatayama]

Another interesting thing. In spanish, flats are called "bemol". From this video, I can presume that the origin of this naming convention comes from the note B flat. (B molle) Bmolle->Bemol

[@juantejadapng]

It's simple: it's so you can spell Bach in music notation :)

[@robinfrenzy]

Wasn't there a piece where he actually signed his name? I believe Dies Irae but I can't find out where

[@sandwhichism]

@@robinfrenzyhe did that on many occasions. Bach is the greatest!

[@kilo3989]

Came here to say this. XD Shostakovich did it too!

[@Zveebo]

You folk clearly commented before watching the video 😛

[@rdspam]

@@kencarter6481 5:40 indeed

[@januszbogdaniuk4180]

As a Pole who learned music through the english/american internet, I always had this awkward-dissonance moment while playing the note B with educated musicians (the ones that were taught music theory by older generations) during jam-sessions. You never know which note is going to be B in each jam, until you hear the dissonance :) To make the communication even more confusing, somehow the system that is being taught in Polish elementary school is solfage. This way all non-musicians use solfage, self-taught use english, and educated musicians use german :)

[@RedHair651]

Solfège is a lot better, in my opinion. It starts in a more visually noticeable place on a piano keyboard and notes have names.

[@sleeper5905]

My personal tutor, who was employed only for few months cause of personal issue, taught me English, solfage, and even sargam, but not the German, tho I sticked with English when trying to teach myself through internet

[@JanxZ]

I was also about to comment that for some reason in early elementary school I was also taught solfege and ask if I'm just weird.

[@banzobeans]

😆

[@RubenHogenhout]

@@RedHair651 In the Netherlands we learns both Solfege often as kids on school and on the music school the English system. I only sometimes meets the H notation and understands it must be a B but never understands were it came from. Until now and also now I understand that the Bes was named B instead. Never knew this! Confusing, funny that the educated musicians use the confusing system.

[@VladimirDonkov]

Here in Bulgaria we use the solfege system when singing, combined with the German system when writing scales and keys. But that's mostly for classical music in the academic environment. For writing down chords in pop and jazz, we use the English system. A typical Balkan mash-up :D

[@guillaumethibodeaux3580]

Spicy. I like it.

[@b.k.5667]

In Germany we also use the solfege system for singing

[@florafeldner]

growing up in Austria, we used the German system for classical music, but when playing pop and in jazz bigbands we use the English/American system of describing chords and notes.

[@Stabacs]

The thing is, that the actual solfége system doesn’t name notes, but steps in the scale. First note is do, second re etc. If you are in c major then do means c, if you are in g major, do is g. That is what singers use. On the other hand in countries like spain and italy they use the names from the solfége system to name notes. So do means c no matter if you are in c major or in F or D major.

[@RubenHogenhout]

I am glad with this video now ( As a Dutch ) I finaly understands were this H comes from!

[@Maitch3000]

I am Danish and was taught that it was named H, but later in life when I moved into electronic music, adopted the English version. So there is difference with what type of music you are playing. What I hate though, is when people call out Bb just as B, because then there is max confusion.

[@reineh3477]

I'm Swedish and I used H when I grew up, when internet came I changed since all new songs I found was written with the English system. Since 10 years back I think even music schools teach the English version. Only annoying time was early 2000 when I a few times found both systems in the same book.

[@NotDingse]

Fellow Dane here. Nice to see someone with the same exact opinion on the subject!

[@Iemonzinger]

@@reineh3477 I go to high school (gymnasie) now and we get notations with B and occasionally H haha

[@yoshinottv]

@@reineh3477 Interesting, as I was growing up, born 01, my music teacher never ever taught us using the H note, I guess he realized if any of us went into music it meant we wouldn't have any use of that system.

[@reineh3477]

@@yoshinottv I understand him. I'm not a teacher but from around when you were born I told everyone I met "B" is what we use today, "H" is something you might find in old books.

[@lucaweidmann7824]

As a german watching a lot of english youtube videos about music, I always had struggled with that difference in naming the H or B note. Thanks a lot for explaining the origin

[@ND62511]

What’s funny is that the Bb addition to avoid the F-B Tritone is less of a solution and more of just diverting the problem elsewhere: because of the change, you now have a Tritone from E-Bb. So then you alter E to Eb, and so on and so forth until you eventually invent the current key signature system we use today.

[@Robotic_Boi]

You cant run You cant run from the tritones

[@tyranisoar7401]

It was usually done while still in the key of C though. It’s just going into the parallel minor for like 1 note.

[@tyranisoar7401]

it’s honestly kind of the opposite of the harmonic minor scale. That scale exists to bring back the leading tone to the minor scale

[@Sammy71ful]

The cycle of fifths 👍

[@drpepperoni2109]

all this because they couldnt handle something sounding cool lol

[@dedalusjmmr]

In the solfège system, at least in Portugal, the word for the flat symbol is «bemol», and the word for the natural symbol is «bequadro», which I always found weird. But now it strikes me that the first very probably comes from «B molle» and the latter from «B-quadro» (i.e., B square).

[@brdsantos]

My brain just exploded

[@0ri0n77]

@@brdsantos Mesmo!

[@enkiitu]

And how do you call sharp in Portuguese? In Spanish we call it sostenido. We also use bemol and becuadro.

[@FernandoAndrade01]

@@enkiitu sustenido também!

[@dedalusjmmr]

@@enkiitu Yes, sustenido.

[@AndersRomin]

I grew up in Sweden and was classically trained on piano and clarinet. And then in my twenties i started playing jazz. I was so confused! Fortunately, nowadays most music teachers have abandoned the H note, and we say “be” and “bess” most of the time when talking about B and Bb.

[@Pakkaslumi]

I wish that would be in Finland too... H is so confusing. Like how is it possible to have H between A and C...

[@stufftie88]

So do I. Thanks to that I'm able to teach Notes in three minutes to all ages of students. It's a dream

[@nirfz]

I think it's only confusing if it gets explained to you with the alphabet. When you think of it as something different it's not that difficult. One just has to accept that it's different. I found other things more confusing but that particular thing never bothered me. And H/B sometimes is also calles Ces. (I find it more strange that when all flat notes are used, some composers choose to write it in all b and some in all # but in the end it's the same for me to play)

[@coosoorlog]

I don't think it's so much music teachers abandoning "H". "B" has been favoured by pop/jazz teachers and musicians for a long time whereas "H" has been, and still is, favoured by classical musicians and teachers.

[@coosoorlog]

@@nirfz and C is cometimes also called His and E Fes and F Eis. depends on the tonal context.

[@AidanEyewitness]

I learned so much including the origin of 'Dur' and Moll' in German. (which I teach!) There are so many things I learn from you that I never learned in my when I studied GCSE and A level music. Vielen Dank!

[@gustavsturksteinwall4027]

I live in Sweden and I've always thought the "H" note was really strange. No one seemed to know why it exists and we have now started to use the conventional note naming system. When studying, analyzing or performing music i almost never come across the H note nowadays. I always refer to it as B (natural) and Bess (B-flat in Swedish)

[@falkeborg9432]

@Hellequin Maskharat Yeah

[@wtskam3053]

I’m also from Sweden, and play in a band with members born in the 60s, they still call it H, sometimes. While I, born in ‘84, always call it B. Bit of a generational difference clearly!

[@Flowerbranche]

I still refer to the note B as H, but sometimes you'd better say "Bess" instead of B, not to confuse people! It's still a problem to use the name "B" as it can refer to either H or Bb.

[@davidwalterhall]

4:16 Speculating here, but the limitations of the printing press might be to blame for the shift from hard b to H. Before printing, English used the letters thorn (Þ / þ - still used in Icelandic) and eth (Ð / ð) to make the sounds we now write with "th". Early German-made printing presses didn't have a thorn, so people in England initally used a Y instead: "Þe Olde Inne" became "Ye Olde Inne" (pronounced "The"), before shifting to "The". Maybe the printing presses didn't have the flat or natural symbol, so printers used a b and an H instead, just as we still use b as a lazy way to write flat on a keyboard.

[@1258-Eckhart]

In German, we call the "gothic" (just to stay with that term, I don't know the official printer's term in English) typeface "Fraktur", which means "broken up" (etymologically from the Latin), as opposed to the Roman (italic) scriptural "roundedness". But nobody sought to differentiate "black-white", one merely used one or the other as needs determined. This led to the weird "H-notation": Ok, it's a "B", but let's just make it pragmatically into a "H" (which also in Fraktur looks very similar).

[@davidwalterhall]

@@1258-Eckhart We say Gothic too, but typographers prefer to call it blackletter because confusingly Gothic also means sans-serif, especially among early- and mid-20th century American fonts, as in Century Gothic.

[@kacperwoch4368]

I doubt printing is the reason, by the time printed musical notation became a thing the music has evolved from gregorian chant and musical notation was a lot more complex. The confusion (or similarity) of h and hard b is definately the reason this system emerged.

[@Vickyeverythingelsewastaken]

As a German that often gets music info from the anglosphere internet, thank you for finally making sense of this. 🙏 I misplay things so often because of the switcheroo that I was taught.

[@waffl1190]

I'm from Ukraine and here we mainly use solfege. I started learning music in youtube, so i learned the english notes, but then my best friend started teaching me music and it was very confusing because I never learned the solfege system In solfege: C = Do D = Re E = Mi F = Fa G = Sol A = La B = Si And I'm not sure if this is a solfege thing or this is just ukrainian, but: flat = bemol sharp = diez natural = bekar

[@GoldenYXZ]

Everything same with the solfège in my country just g=sol and also when a note is sharp it's added is on the end cis, dis, eis... And if flat then es ces, des, es...

[@SirracSK]

In greece we use do re mi fa sol La si as well, but for sharp we say: διεση, and for minor we say: ύφεση

[@Mayonnegg]

Hello, I'm ukrainian and i learning now in our music college. If we need to sign "si", we use H, but if we need sign "si-bemol/flat", we use B. So... it's cursed lol

[@immagns]

bach USED A PRODUCER TAG??????? MY GAD

[@IngenVCco]

As a former student and now a teacher in a music school in Bulgaria, I could add that here while primarily using the solfeje system of naming the notes, we start studying the German system quite early on in the music curiculum. We call it the "Letter naming system of music notes" And I must admit that since I had learned the English system before that from reading lots of foreign materials, I was really confused when we started learning the German system. I remember fondly arguing with my teacher that this system is archaic and hardly relevant in this day and age. But now that I get to teach kids, I try to inform them of all the different ways one could write the notes. Although they are still required to pass exams in the German style when they graduate. Great video on the topic and very informative ! Cheers!

[@HofTheStage]

Among all of the highlighted countries, Bosnia and Herzegovina also uses H in stead of B. Since I grew up here I got used to using H, but whenever I do a KZbin video I remember that more people use B so I have to be careful. It never really made sense to me though especially since we use "Is" to sharpen the notes and "es" to make them flat, but when you get to H you get a B all of a sudden when you want a flat. Crazy. As for the solmization of the notes there are also more then one way depending on the system you wanna use. Most widely known is "Do Re Mi Fa So La Si Do", but here we use "Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do" for the same thing. So get this, depending on the system, "Do" can always be a C note (and C# and Cb) or "Do" can be the tonic note of the key. Also, "La" can be the start of a minor scale because it's the 6th degree so it makes sense, but you can also name the notes in a natural minor scale like this: Do Re Nja Fu So Lje Te Do (apparently Nja Lje and Te make you wanna sing the notes a bit lower and that represents the flat notes in a natural minor, if you wanna sing the harmonic minor you would just raise the 7th degree "Te" and make it a "Ti"). A loooot of different systems and a lot of confusion haha. Thanks for a great video, whenever somebody asks me about this I'll just send them the link. You don't even know how many times I've had parents come to me saying that we teach their children wrong notes because they saw online that B is actually H 😅

[@AndyD.21]

I´m Czech and we use the system with H. When I first started to watch your videos I was so confused, I very often didn´t know what you were talking about because of the different names. I had to learn everything from start

[@krytterka]

Also, when I learned piano (I'm Czech too) and had to memorize all the sharps/flats in order, there were 'hes' (for English Bb)/'his' (for B#) in naming :) So although there is already existing 'b' note/key name as for Bb, I still had to use the -is/-es form. Probably for realizing it is an accidental and belongs to either of those sharp/flat lines.

[@Kirqos]

In German, the Solfège system (Do - Re - Mi) is used for relative scales. It always refers to a major scale if you start at Do, but it could start at any note (and of course, if you start at La, you get natural minor, if you start at Re, you get Dorian, etc.). In Italian, this system is used for absolute scales instead (Do = C). This is therefore somewhat confusing because the same words are used to refer to different things.

[@freultwah]

It's the Kodály method of movable-do where you use the notes for relative scales. In Estonia, we renamed most notes in the Kodály system so that there's little overlap and it's easy to determine which is used - do-re-mi (absolute) or jo-le-mi (relative).

[@mrgrumps71]

In Serbia, we use absolute do for solmization and reading sheet music (withiut special names for sharp and flat notes, ex. des -> re; fis -> fa) and the german H for music theory

[@michielhorikx9863]

5:17 Actually, the Dutch system also does this, but it doesn't use the H, as you mentioned right at the start. So it also uses 'bes' and 'ais'. It's kind of halfway in between the German and English system.

[@samuelthecamel]

Just like how Dutch is a sort off intermediate language between German and English

[@michielhorikx9863]

Sort of, but English itself has a heavy influence from French due to being invaded by the Normans, whereas Dutch does not have that, so it is (especially in vocabulary) far more similar to German than to English.

[@Traumglanz]

Fitting for dutch, which always sounds to my ears half way between German and English.

[@davorbrijacak]

I'm from Croatia and I wasn't formally educated in music so I never used H letter system. I was reading tutorials in English but I also use "Gis and Ges" style of denominating sharps and flats so I unknowingly ended up with Dutch system.

[@-composer]

hoopoe

[@TomTheDecider]

Dude, I almost never comment on YT, but your videos are seriously top notch on all points. Excellent demeanour when explaining super complicated topics, incredibly informed/insightful and also entertaining and interesting to watch. I take my hat off to you, good sir. Keep it coming! :)

[@Simich92Marty]

I’ll be here waiting for the Solfège video!👍🏻 As an Italian I’ve learned notes with names, then when I started looking around I saw letter and it tricked me a little😅 I tried to make up a system of “mapping” letters to note names, and also the first thing I noticed was that we are more confortable using as the “kids learning music” scale with “Do” (which is “C”) instead with letters it starts with A (of course😅, our “La”)… you cannot imagine how it was for me when I relised that, the “strange” starting point wasn’t random, cuz they were one the relative minor scale of the other…🤯

[@shandu88]

In Serbia we use Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si, Do. :D

[@tvince0]

In Hungary we actually use both of these systems (Solfège = Szolmizációs rendszer = (Solmization System) Dó, Ré, Mi, Fá, Szó, Lá, Ti, Dó) :D

[@dhpbear2]

@@shandu88 No 'drink with jam and bread' here :)

[@Rassilon6]

It's funny you should mention the "kids learning music" scale--what you describe is kind of what I do in my head. When I'm trying to remember music in my head, I essentially use "Do Re Me...", except I always covert it to "C, D, E..." No matter what key it's actually written in, I call the tonal note C! At least in my head, C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C is easier to remember and use than Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Ti-Do.

[@Simich92Marty]

@@Rassilon6 exactly! Letters are just in alphabetical order, so much easier😅

[@emmakatebrakefield80]

I love how you go through the history as well as the music theory, it’s very helpful. As always, great stuff man. 💜

[@manracmolactrac]

Excited for the Solfege video. I live right on the border between Ontario and Quebec, which means working with musicians who have been brought up on movable Do system with seperate syllables for chromaticism on the English side, and musicians from the French side who are brought up on fixed Do, using "bemole" or "dies" (spelling might be wrong) for flat and sharp.

[@VFJosh84]

That’s why you need to write beautifully. Someone was just sloppy and wrote the small letter “b” half-assed, and then others thought it was a “h”. ;)

[@watchmakerful]

In Ukraine we use Solfège as well, but sometimes also write European letters for notes.

[@Georgeirfx]

I believe all Eastern Europe uses it, found the map in the video strange with Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and Moldova omitted

[@Bacopa68]

Ukraine will win the war. Crimea will be retaken by July and Russian troops will be redirected to suppress insurrections in Russian cities by August.

[@peterstangl8295]

in Hungary too! We were taught both the letters (with H) and solfege as well as how the two are linked. Oh and we also learned the hand gestures for solfege, like in Close Encounters 😀

[@watchmakerful]

@@peterstangl8295 I don't remember any hand gestures.

[@DrNo007]

Due to having to use both systems in parallel for a while, I ended up using Bb for one note, and H for the other - and to avoid B completely, because it's meaning depends on the system used.

[@kaptnkirk2740]

This is, what I do when writing chords to avoid misunderstandings. Here in Germany.

[@mrbassman7184]

This was interesting, more detailed than any explanations I've heard so far. I'm from Finland (but Swedish speaking), and the H note has stuck with me since I first started learning about music soon 40 years ago. Hence I still prefer using H over B. I have known how to spell out the note names of the C major scale (CDEFGAHC) fluently for as long as I can remember. I NEVER use the B letter though for the note Bb, but use Bb instead to fool old Murphy. (Murphy behind Murphy's Law was an engineer, who got famous for his very true idea that 'if something can be assembled the wrong way, it will be', sooner or later). H and Bb can't be misunderstood. I have started to use B rather than H more and more though, as it's more widely used in pop and jazz notation worldwide, and I'm as comfortable reading B in English notation as H.

[@Winterbay]

Fun fact: you can still have a Bess in the German/Nordic system. It's just a doubly lowered H 🙂

[@DJKLProductions]

As a German, I know the B double flat as Heses in addition to Bes.

[@Zwopper]

Bess would be equivalent to A in Sweden.

[@robinfrenzy]

I always thought solfège was a term to describe applied music theory. Because I had solfège lessons and we learned to read and sing melodies, recognize chords, play rhythms, etc

[@oravlaful]

here in brazil that's what it is

[@enkiitu]

It is exactly that. I don’t know if the way we name notes is also named solfège (solfeo in Spanish).

[@LadyPelikan]

That's the case in France.

[@Testgeraeusch]

A few years ago a friend of mine would write a small piece of software that would generate chiptune-style music from an ascii script. He didn't want to use too many symbols for the language, so for us it was the natural choice to call the scale AHCDEFG and use b as the command for "shift downward by a semitone", so instead of Bb we kept writing Hb. Felt weird at first, but worked fine.

[@morsikpl]

I'm from Poland and I'm using Hb in my private chords that I may later share with others just to make sure that's it's exactly this note - beucase it's the only specific one I meant :D Because "B" may be ambigonus for others as some are after music schools (hence B and H) and some self-taught (especially guitarists) who know Bb and B, so stupid half-incorrect Hb is the way to go. And why "half incorrect" you ask? Because "b" is still, well, a flat for note, so I'm essentially writing "H flat" in shorter form.

[@weepingscorpion8739]

Thank you for this video. And now I also learned why we say dur and moll. And it's interesting that the B and H works so well in my native language of Faroese because our word for hard is harður and our word for soft is bleytur. Pretty neat. I found it interesting that so many Germans here in the comments seem to hate this system. I couldn't imagine using any other name for this note than H.

[@ThomasNimmesgern]

Being a German musician, I do prefer H ober B. :-)

[@25bever]

Being from The Netherlands, I never realized our music system differs from countries around us (even more so than pointed out in the video). As i see it, we use parts of all three different music systems represented here. We use just the letters A to G and sharpen or flatten them (like the English system). However, when we do so, we append -is or -es (like the German system). So we do still call a B-flat a Bes for example. Also, when going up a diatonic scale for singing practice, we use do-re-mi-fa-so-la-si-do (like the Solfège system). Very cool to learn that we have such a unique blend of music systems around us.

[@sarahsander785]

The idea of the gothic-style b being replaced with a normal-style h makes a lot of sense, given that the mechanical press did change some letters throughout the diffrent alphabets of Europe. I had to think of the reason why the old latter for "th" in the Anglo-Saxon alphabet was lost and replaced with a "y" that way, too.

[@kellydalstok8900]

The old lEtter for “th” was replaced with “th”

[@davidwalterhall]

@@kellydalstok8900 Yes, but not initally. At first they used a y character, which is where we get the "ye olde" on pub signage. It was a makeshift thorn before the thorn was phased out and replaced with th.

[@sarahsander785]

@@kellydalstok8900 No, that was actually a bit later, when thy converted the y to the double-letter from today. The original symbol looked a lot like a y. But in the late middle ages when printing became more common, a lot of texts where produced using the German machines. The German alphabet doesn't have a "th"-letter, so they used the next closest thing - the y. That's the reason behind pub names like "Ye old tevern" and such. There is a linguist around on KZbin with a great video on the topic, but I can't find the link right now.

[@chsinger96]

There was literally YOUR ad before the actual video started, in which you also mention yourself as the sponsor right away, how brilliant😂👌🏼

[@DavidBennettPiano]

😂😂

[@fikus0819]

When I came to Poland after living in the UK for 3 years and learning guitar I was suprised when I got to know that it's h not b. Thanks for the answer!!!

[@saschaerdinger1655]

5:22 hi german here, we actually dont always call it b. it can also be refered as ais, so we actually have a rather persistent system, but for flattened notes there is this one exception. fun fact: some people habe started calling h b, because its more logical and to fit the pattern b would be called bes.

[@Elfenohr]

That's fascinating. I am German as well and have a ph d in musicology but I've never encountered anyone ever calling the b note "b" in German.

[@saschaerdinger1655]

@@Elfenohr well its not really common, but personally, i think this makes a lot more sense.

[@stekeln]

In Sweden, I've heard some people in the older generations were taught the "pure" German system with H but I feel that most people today, even (or especially?) within academic and educational contexts will say "Aiss" for A#, "Bess" to mean Bb, and "B" for B. That way, -iss = sharp and -ess = flat always.

[@davorbrijacak]

That's basically the system I learned on my own despite formally in Croatia there's H. I think H letter is going out of fashion among self-taught musicians who watch lots of English tutorials, it's only perpetuated by the academia.

[@brakpseudonimu236]

From what I know, A# is ais, Hb is B, so B and H don't appear together in the same key signature.

[@stekeln]

@@brakpseudonimu236 Yes, that would be true. I meant to say that in Sweden it's widely accepted that German "H" is called "B" and German "B" is called "Bess".

[@brakpseudonimu236]

@@stekeln nice, I wish that was the case in Poland as well.

[@JeroenAdolfse]

Same her in Netherlands as you explained we use ABCDEFG but we also use for sharp: A#=Ais, C#=Cis, D#= Dis, F#=Fis, G#=Gis and for flat: Ab=As, Bb=Bes, Db=Des, Eb=Es and Gb=Ges. Kind a mixture of the european and Anglo-Dutch system. But no H in our system anyway.

[@eXtreme4]

This explanation is so precise, and accurate. As a graduate musician and music teacher I did this research as a student about 20 years ago, and I have been teaching my students this for years and years.

[@polandsilver3419]

We also have H note in Poland, but I still use B because I learn the most about music on this channel :D

[@cherrysunburst828]

Same, B makes so much more sense too. I'm from Germany and in school I was always so confused why there's a H note, just seemed so random and out of place. The chromatic scale is a lot easier and more intuitive to understand with the B instead of H. The flat and sharp system is also easier to understand than the -es and -is suffixes

[@sovka8394]

I’m from Slovakia. We also have that and I still get confused after many years😑

[@polandsilver3419]

@@cherrysunburst828 Ow, there are plenty of things like that, some teachers use solfège, also nearly everyone of people call minor and major scales "dur" and "mol", sounds better in Polish, but makes things so unintuitive. We have even worse things: for example Mixolydian is still called in English, but Lydian is "Lydyjski" - changed to sound like adjective in Polish :D I'd rather sound like a nerd talking about games with gamers' slang, than use these things :P

[@kurteisner67]

@@cherrysunburst828 I like the system with -is/-es better than the "flat" and "sharp", but the H just makes no sense whatsoever. Perfect system in my view would be to replace H with B and call the flat and sharp version of it "bis" and "bes" - problem solved.

[@mikoajp.5890]

I've mostly learned basic music theory from the internet 15 years ago, even today I have to pause for a second when talking about B in Polish :(

[@penguincute3564]

2:30 sounds so heaven like

[@SarahElisabethJoyal]

Chinese sheet music tends to use numbers. So where we would write the notes out on staff lines instead there's just a row of figures. There's a note at the top of the page to tell you which lettered note corresponds to number 1 and changing octaves is represented by a dot above or below the digit. It's called 简谱 or 'simplified notation', and as I understand it is pretty simple to read once you get the hang of it (which I never have 😂)

[@kaptnkirk2740]

There is one derivation, which you denied to early in the beginning. H is the next note after G. There were 8 notes already very early in music. But distributed to 3 different hexachords (Naturale, Molle and Durum). - The hexachordum naturale got *no* B. - The hexachordum molle got B-molle. - The hexachordum durum got B-durum. So they had 8 tones: A-B-Bb-C-D-E-F-G. B and Bb got "equal rights" like all other notes. So it was obvious to take the next "free" letter (H) to differentiate the to Bs more clearely.

[@davidtobis3614]

I'm from Hungary and I can confidently say, that the H system is the worst thing I've ever seen.

[@allsonsoon3661]

Love you bro

[@Sedyon]

In France, this idea has never completely disappeared, as we use the word “bémol” (“b soft”) to designate flat notes and “bécarre” (“b square” in reference to the hard b) to designate natural notes.

[@bassismdonesimply]

Quite an issue here in Russia as well: German notation is still taught in music schools along Solfège, as far as I know. That creates a point of contradiction between musicians who've been through the abominable mess of post-USSR music education system, and some of us who are self-taught via English music theory channels on the internet, like this one.

[@lilliwieland7957]

i got an ad of your piano course right before the video started, thought it was part of the video for a second haha!

[@rimmersbryggeri]

I was never taught that B flat is called B in sweden. We did use H though but I would predict that that practice will die out pretty soon other tha possibly in classical sheet music which might still predominantly be printed in germanic countries. Within rock and pop music I would say B is the not name most frequently used since we get those tabs and scores from the internet. H is weird because of how we say flats and sharps in swedish so even when we said H we used to use B when talking about sharps and flats which may also be confusing (Assuming B# is even used).

[@monoswinger]

Here - in Hungary, and in some other countries, I guess - we C D E F G A H C as a static system, where every note has its own place on the keyboard (or frequency), but use solfagie as a dynamic system, where do re mi fa so la ti do, is a major scale, but you can use it anywhere if C is do, G is so, but if F is the do, C is the so, etc. In Kodály's method they use this as an ultimate tool to train musical intelligency from kindergarden to the university. There are some pretty hardcore stuff there. For some guys a real nightmare at music schools - in my opinion very productive. This movement was really strong until Kodály died, the 2 pillars of it are solfage, and singing - mostly in choirs - it was so strong, that amateur school choirs was recorded by english record label, or later well known classical composers was coming from farm schools, etc

[@dzonynajedzony]

As a Polish, by watching English music theory videos I completely bypassed our illogical "H" system. But when I talk to my peers, we have a hard time understanding each other because of the different systems we had learnt.

[@kaptnkirk2740]

There is no nomenclature more "logical" than others. This is the overbearing sight on music-theory coming from Jazz-musicians.

[@Draber2b]

You may try solfége. It was compulsory during primary school to learn fixed solfége and the german system. The English one was often just briefly mentioned (depends on the teacher), and one had the right to forget it. Solfége doesn't add that confusion. Or keep saying "B natural", "B flat". Those who know the English system immediately know what you mean, and those who don't will get surprised, hesitating, which prevents them from confidently playing the wrong way.

[@andym2612]

I bought a Midi bass pedal board from Germany about 5 years ago (Studio Logic MP117). Under the Midi specifications in the manual it's notes used for the Midi numbers are C=0,C#=1,D=2,D#=3,E=4,F=5,F#=6,G=7,G#=8,A=9 and Bb is called -H. And with the negative symbol (-) being used for a Midi function the manual implies Bb is H.

[@nefdsnet]

The really great thing is being used to Bb and B notation in a German speaking country due to mostly learning songs with the internet and regularly working with someone who got into music several years earlier. "Play a B!" *harsh dissonance* "No, play my B!" 😃

[@alexejfrohlich5869]

^ THIS!!!! xD -- "lets play a song in B major" -- me: "yeah, all of the black keys!!!" -- "no no, the other 'B'" -- me: "oh dang...."

[@bertramwinkleofficial]

ngl i was a little confused when the video “ended” but there was still 6 minutes left lmao IT STARTS WITH ONEEEEE

[@TotoDG]

Interesting how Do-Re-Mi (the ‘doe, a deer’) song comes from a movie set in a country that doesn’t primarily use the Solfège system, though I imagine it was still fairly well-known.

[@Elfenohr]

In the US the solfege system was (and still is) very popular when teaching to sing. That's exactly what she does with that song and therefor a good fit :)

[@TheVoitel]

Not all of that was exactly correct. Medieval music theory did not have 7 diatonic notes with one being swapped occasionally. Rather inspired by the greek tetrachord they had three overlapping hexachords, so 6 diatonic notes. Chant would then switch between these hexachords. These hexachords are the _hexachordum naturale_ (c, d, e, f, g, a), the _hexachordum molle_ (f, a, bb, c, d) and the _hexachordum durum_ (g, a, b, c, d, e). This also means a tritone can only happen when switching between hexachords! Both solfeggio and note names then come from the system by Guido of Arezzo, who assigned the starting syllables of the verses of the St. Johns hymn (each starting one step higher) to the notes of the hexachordum, so you get ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la and gave each note used by the medieval system a unique name (also linked to parts of the hand), from which our modern note names come from.

[@TheGTRacer97]

Finland tends to have both of these systems to an extent and no one is really sure which one is being used, so it has to be specified each time. I like to get around it by using H for B natural and Bb for B flat, so "B" is actually never used.

[@NotDingse]

Denmark too. I for one am a B fan, but I always have to specify which B I am referring to, which is annoying. I don’t mind that we use an H instead of B, but using a B instead of Bb is pointless and counterproductive.

[@paulrichardson6804]

I’ve said this before and ill say it again: I’ve been trying to play music ( mainly bass, but some synth and guitar) for 50 years and I’ve learned more the last two years from David Bennetts channel than all that , several times over..many thanks

[@Ikatxu]

The central European system is what I was taught in school in Finland. I have since adapted the English system, because information on music theory being more widely availble in English, and due to it being used in most DAWs (I know that probably you can get the central European system if you install your DAW in German for example, but there certainly weren't any Finnish language DAWs around when I started, and probably still aren't). I think in general the English system is becoming more widely used.

[@molekyyli]

Same here. Originally from CZ (taught H in primary school), now in Finland, my first guitar teacher (Finnish) used H and I was already used to B, so it was just complicating things for no good reason. Nowadays I have an American teacher and use GuitarPro which also uses B etc. I'm sorry H, you're simply obsolete. 😄

[@TheRussianGenius]

When I had theory in Denmark, we learned B as H, but I don't remember learning A#/Bb as B. Theory teacher told me they were too lazy to write b and b and h look similar, it was easier to write h than b

[@nimnone]

Im from Sweden and some of my song books use Bb for Bb and H for B to avoid misunderstandings. But it's even more confusing!

[@saftobulle]

In Sweden both systems are actually used, though in modern times, the english one is more common. In jazz or pop/rock contexts we basically only use the english system, while in classical contexts it depends on whatever your teacher used or what your conductor is using.

[@gregor8676]

I'm from Germany and I very much dislike the "H" and "B" notes. Complete nonsense. I always use the international B and B flat expressions.

[@astroandyborgloh]

OK, gut. Aber erzähl das mal dem Schott-Verlag und den MusiklehrerInnen in den Schulen :-)

[@paperguyeu]

Me too. I refuse to support this H nonsense.

[@movinglion3017]

As a German I find it really annoying. Especially if you often use the "Normal" System, especially for describing Chords (I would never say H-minor), but you always have to make clear wich B you actually mean...

[@rikjanvanschothorst1645]

In Dutch (or at least what I grew up with) we actually also use the -es an -is system, but we use the B for B natural and turn B flat into "Bes"

[@Winterbay]

I've always found reading English notes, not annoying, but weird. Because saying A flat, D flat is so much more work than going Ass, Dess and so on.

[@TimVerweij]

Hmm, "Mozart - Sonata No. 8 in Ass"... Joking aside, I do feel the same about the English names.

[@MobiusBandwidth]

in the experimental music labs at Berklee, we've discovered notes up to M, -so far!

[@BasedHyperborean]

no you haven't, the scale repeats ad infinitum. You might have made something up based on obscure microtones or something, but that's not a discovery. There's no damn M.

[@robinfrenzy]

😂

[@E_Bagels]

No they've discovered M. M for music. They haven't found N yet but I'm sure they will with the new electron microscopes they bought last year.

[@alexnobrasil3062]

@@E_Bagels They've discovered a new note, BS

[@3rdStoreyChemist]

@@BasedHyperborean As notes are based on the harmonic series, what you’ll discover is every new interval occurs with each harmonic that corresponds to each prime number. So there’s an awful lot of notes in reality!

[@Hailey_Paige_1937]

Brilliant video, David! But now I need to know why we have “S” in Russian music notation! The “D - S - C - H” motif for Dimitri Shostakovich (D-Nat., Eb, C-Nat., B-Nat., or the German H). This motif occurs a TON in his 8th String Quartet, especially the 2nd Movement.

[@scarygarey3271]

Bro has got his own adverts

[@ffggddss]

Note about the video: The numbers attached to the "C" keys in your course sample episode, are off by 1. "C0" through "C7" should actually be "C1" through "C8;" you've got middle C, which is C4, labeled C3. Fred

[@romanvolotov]

I can tell you what's happening in Russian music schools. We do indeed use the solfege system here, but the German version is also briefly taught. I remember some exercises for this system in like 5th grade. The -is/-es stuff was rather confusing. It was very weird when I got into music theory on the internet and saw somewhat familiar but different system. And also the flat/sharp/natural notation was unexpected

[@D7sus4]

Нас учили и классической цифровке и джазовой.

[@KapitanWasTaken]

Not gonna lie, as a Pole that doesn't play any instruments except for casual "making sounds" with keyboard or accordion my grandpa left around I actually never knew that there was a system with a B note. Back in the elementary and middle school I was taught both the Solfege and German C-D-E-F-G-A-H but nothing about flats as far as I remember. Just enough to be somewhat able to read notes and play a recorder or sing accordingly. Interesting indeed.

[@amjan]

In Poland, fortunately the German system is used. The solfege system is also used - for singing.

[@martonandorka]

Fortunately? H notation is totally nonsence :)

[@kronkepus3671]

@@martonandorka no ❤

[@ocudagledam]

In Serbia, we use both solfege and the German system in parallel. If we sing from a sheet, we use solfege, if we discuss the notes, we use the German system. Funnily enough, as children, we weren't bothered that much by CDEFGAHC (instead of CDEFGABC), but we did find it really odd that all the other flat tones were called something like Ces, Des, Es, but H flat was called B. People were desperately trying to figure out a reason for that and I remember even someone giving the explanation that Hes was substituted with B because Hes reminded people of a really bad person (i.e. Rudolf Hess), which I realize is nonsense.

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

Actually in Germany A Sharp can be referred to as Ais.

[@Carewolf]

Ais Ais Bb

[@s.deegan3740]

When I was a kid and I looked up the chords for Beatles “One After 909” I found a transcription that gave the first chord as “H7”. Absolutely true story.

[@mrbaris0]

I’ve learned solfege first and letter system later on so my natural way to start counting notes is “do, re, mi etc.” The thing i don’t understand is why did they labeled the note La as A instead of note Do or why is solfege starting from Do (at least that’t what i’ve been taught) instead of La which is A so there wouldn’t be much confusion? (I know that sentence is confusing but that’s the way i could do :D)

[@HelloKittyFanMan]

Wow, mind BLOWN! I never knew I could be so interested in some histories of subjects that I wasn't generally very interested in before. Thank you!

[@thegothaunt]

Definitely interested in the solfege system and why sometimes we see "ti" and sometimes "si" !! Also sol/so!

[@RubenHogenhout]

We too. Now I understand why I said do re mi fa sol la si do. And my son said no it is do re mi fa sol la ti do!

[@michaelgrabner8977]

"Ut, Re, Mi, Fa, So(l), La, Si" is the original "Sol-Fa ladder (later then called in french "solfege" ladder)" from the 11th century based on the first syllabels of the first words of the first lines of the Latin hym "Ut queant laxis" from the 8th century praising St.John the Baptist = in Latin "Sancte Iohannes" initials "Si" therefore "Si".... invented by monks for singing practice. UT queant laxīs REsonāre fibrīs MIra gestōrum FAmulī tuōrum, SOlve pollūtī LAbiī reātum, Sancte Iohannēs. In the 16th century in Italy (a Mekka of classical music at that time) the closed syllabel "Ut" got changed into "Do" in order to have an open syllabel as like all the others in the "sol-fa ladder" and therefore the "Sol-fa ladder" became "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si" which made singing practices with the sol-fa ladder way more useful. In the 19th century - and just in Anglophone countries - "Si" was then changed to "Ti" by Sarah Glover (very influencial english music educator) so that every syllable might begin with a different letter (also freeing Si for later use as Sol-sharp) = and her adaption is also called the "Norwich Sol-Fa ladder/Norwich solfege ladder" (Norwich was Sarah Glover´s hometown) = Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Long story short When you come across a "Ti" then it is written in the "Norwich Sol-Fa ladder" form. When you come across a "Si" then it is written so to say in "the classical/traditional (italian) Sol-Fa ladder" form.

David, my wish is that when you do the "Solfege" video you have of a more global view. I have shared before that I'm a red blooded American born in the great state of California. I moved to México as a child and there I first learned to play the guitar. I was taught the Solfege muisc notation system. Why 'cause they speak Spanish and the roots are from Spain. Later when I moved back to the USA I learned the English alphabet notation. All of Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries in North, Central and South America, Latin America, use the Solfege music system. I can't wait for your Solfege video.

[@tomasolsson6493]

We also have "H" in Sweden

[@Skelterbane69]

Yeah, but we don't use it.

[@miffokarnevalen]

Musical educational instances recommends teaching B and Bb instead of H and B, since the 1990s. Many publishers as well has changed their publications to use B and Bb. H and B lives on, more in form of the legacy amongst musicians that learnt music earlier than that. Some teachers still might teach H an B, since it's only a recommendation but the use of H and B is definitely decaying.

[@nahblue]

You can see "Hm" (H moll == B minor) in old notes and songbooks and you fluently read it and don't think so much about it. But it's not in fashion anymore.

[@louisparry-mills9132]

The thing that frustrates me about the german system is that the important spelling rule of standard western scales ("Any given scale must include some form of each note A-G") doesn't make sense when we have B and H, and instead we have to say that "Any given scale must include some form of A, C, D, E, F, G and either B or H". If you're in a scale with 5 sharps, then your A (sharp in this case) is B. >:( Is this confusing to German musicians? Do they think about the rule I just mentioned?

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

OK so H in German is actually B Natrual while B is Bb.

[@Qoenti]

Yes

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

@@Qoenti A Sharp can also be called Ais.

[@Qoenti]

@@RockStarOscarStern634 yeah I know, Bb and A# are enharmonic notes

[@mikaeldavidsson9998]

Big THANKS for explaining this. I have wondered for a really long time why we had H instead of B in Sweden. Nowadays almost every Swedish musician uses B but not the really concervative ones. I am a music teacher for kid between 13 and 15 and now I can finally expain this to them. Ones again thanks for this video, and many other videos too,

[@powerpeanut8865]

As a german musician, i can tell you that most of us still prefer calling the notes b and Bb, but sometimes call them h and b just to make clear, which one we actually mean

[@ravencole2740]

It's already clear.

[@ThomasNimmesgern]

As a German musician, I can tell you most of the musicians I know do prefer H over B.

[@mr.nobody2244]

True. I also say major, minor, sharp and flat (Giss or Gess just sounds stupid). In fact all my music theory is based on the english system.

[@enkiitu]

I worked over 10 years in Germany as a musician (“classical music”) and I only heard people referring to it as H. I wouldn’t know how to say b natural in German….

[@Winterbay]

My Horn teacher used to use H and Bb to be extra clear :)

[@monoswinger]

3:52 looks more like a natural symbol to me

[@KS-by1lr]

I am German. If you are American and think the H-notation is nonsense, this is exactly how we see Americans not using the Metric system.

[@metalpuppet5798]

The H notation IS complete nonsense. And I am saying this as a German. It makes SO much more sense to have the B after the A in the most important scale in music theory which is and will always be C major I suppose to having it come directly after the A.

[@TheHesseJames]

@@metalpuppet5798 right, I also prefer the English system over my native German system. It’s way better structured and systematic. I also love the system using the Roman numerals and I love the Spanish system for flamenco which uses the positions where you play on the guitar and uses the solfège system only relatively and not absolutely. No matter where you put the capo, note names just stay the same.

[@martonandorka]

As a Hungarian person with a master degree in composition, I find this central european system nonsence too! We use H as well but it is always a pain in the ass, simply because B and Bb is much more logical. Just like metric system. Your point is very off, because H notation is similar to american imperial system (totally idiotic) and B notation is as logical as the metric.

[@gergoretvari6373]

@@metalpuppet5798 as a Hungarian, i agree too.

[@GizzyDillespee]

Is it possible to be not so territorial about either arbitrary measurement unit?

[@lim7lim]

Mind blown. Thank you David for this fascinating lesson.

[@NaskaelWasTaken]

Hello! Sweden does no longer use "H". Some time ago there has been a general switch to B. Today almost only B is used.

[@Zornarka]

Dang, this explained a good chunk of why I've been so confused about some of the expressions I've heard people use here (Norway) when compared to what I've seen online.

[@Yupppi]

I'm finnish and stopped talking about H and B instead of B and Bb, because it was way too prone to misinterpretation. With Bb you will never be mistaken which one it means. I believe finnish music theory came directly from germnay so that's the source, and I recall hearing/reading that the H instead of B was actually a mistake and somehow the note name got interpreted as H and stuck like you explained. So sort of mistake and just causes misinterpretation, no need to keep supporting the competing rather objectively worse system. I still call the sharps by name "-is" because it's incredibly more convenient than "ylennetty *note*".

[@raymorin.tu01]

A great summary! One quibble: I always thought that England ("Das Land ohne Musik") had adopted Germany's letter-name system (not a parallel development, as David implies) but with "Rechtschreibreform" (spelling reform) ☺ After all, ask any kid what letter comes between "A" and "C"...

[@Maisiewuppp]

Schade, dass Deutschland gleichzeitig zum Rechtsschreibreform nicht das unlogische h abgeschafft hat. Nicht zeitgemäß.

[@MikeDial]

I learned this the hard way when I was stationed in Germany with the Air Force and taught guitar to a couple of German kids.

[@bfish89ryuhayabusa]

I Googled this 2 weeks ago and the result was effectively "Germany uses H instead of B because they have an H where B would be." I'm optimistic that this video will be less tautological.

[@The_RedVIII]

As an Austrian, I can say that the English system is like a million times better, and should be adopted worldwide.

[@1258-Eckhart]

Sorry, from an Englishman (= auf die Pauke gehaut), "minor and major" seem better than "Moll and Dur", because it is no longer the NOTES that count, but the message (die Botschaft). "Moll" is not about "softness", but "reflection", "Dur" not about "hardness", but "reassurance".

[@SeekingTheLoveThatGodMeans7648]

From the USA, I wasn't even aware till reading this that there were so many different ways of talking about these notes that one couldn't deduce just by looking at printed music notation. The B=Bb and H=B detail was only talked about like a music trivia factoid that was in a world long ago and far away. But Germans and many other Europeans are still doing it.... Perhaps the Anglophone musician world, sheerly outnumbering the musician population of the European countries that do not use the English system, will eventually carry the day in an internationalization effort, with the USA (and Canada?) musician population being a large factor in that. Someone is going to get tripped up no matter what the accommodation is, though. Yes I know about the ugly-chauvinistic-American syndrome, which I personally deplore, but legit the USA does greatly expand the Anglophone world.

[@ssolomon999]

The communication challenge here is musical elements all have contextual names, incorporating some aspect of how that element is typically used, so when you try to refer to that object in relation to a different context it becomes extremely confusing. For example, "usually Tom is fourth, but sometimes we put Bob in fourth position" is easier to understand than "usually 4 is 4th, but sometimes 3 1/2 is 4th".

[@FatRaccoon31]

1:25 ITS 2 AM YOU MADE ME SCARE AS HELL

[@PhillipeLeao]

Wow! Very intriguing. I can't wait for the Solfege video

[@merman1974]

Great explanation. I had come across "H" notes in some computer music programs, and now I know why.

[@arnejungclaus7957]

I bet the "sharp" to h change was a placeholder for printing presses. As in the old German script (printing standard) the signs are even closer. And the old one was just abolished after WW2. Don't know about the Scandinavian and Slavic country's that adopted it but I guess it is cultural, musical and political influences over all that time

[@eliassirvio2779]

We don't really do this in Sweden anymore, I think I recall my music teacher telling me we officially changed H to B in like the 80's or something, basically only hear really old musicians refer to B as H