middle C
noun
: the note designated by the first ledger line below the treble staff and the first above the bass staff
Examples of middle C in a Sentence
the note above middle C
Recent Examples on the Web
During a fifty-one-note melismatic passage on the first syllables, the line gyrates between the C above middle C and the G below middle C—deep in the contralto register.
—
Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 30 Jan. 2023
Just stay on middle C—a fine rule of thumb.
—Washington Post, 23 Dec. 2020
The notes included everything from middle C to the B above it, and each note had three versions: one in tune, one slightly flat, and one slightly sharp.
—Elizabeth Preston, Discover Magazine, 21 June 2013
In a transcription in modern notation, the setting departs from the E above middle C, at the lower end of the soprano range.
—Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 30 Jan. 2023
The sound comes from the beating of her wings and the sympathetic vibration of her thorax, buzzing at a frequency of 400 hertz (close to middle C).
—Dava Sobel, Discover Magazine, 19 Jan. 2010
But humans couldn’t hear that note because its frequency was too low - the equivalent to a B-flat, some 57 octaves below the middle C note of a piano, according to NASA.
—Annabelle Timsit, Anchorage Daily News, 23 Aug. 2022
But humans couldn’t hear that note because its frequency was too low — the equivalent to a B-flat, some 57 octaves below the middle C note of a piano, according to NASA.
—Annabelle Timsit, Washington Post, 21 Aug. 2022
Just as someone who doesn’t know how to cook could make a perfect cake with the rights mix, so too a Spotify user who doesn’t know where middle C is on a keyboard could make perfect music, with AI assistance.
—Bill Hochberg, Forbes, 29 June 2022
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Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 30 Jan. 2023
Just stay on middle C—a fine rule of thumb.
—Washington Post, 23 Dec. 2020
The notes included everything from middle C to the B above it, and each note had three versions: one in tune, one slightly flat, and one slightly sharp.
—Elizabeth Preston, Discover Magazine, 21 June 2013
In a transcription in modern notation, the setting departs from the E above middle C, at the lower end of the soprano range.
—Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 30 Jan. 2023
The sound comes from the beating of her wings and the sympathetic vibration of her thorax, buzzing at a frequency of 400 hertz (close to middle C).
—Dava Sobel, Discover Magazine, 19 Jan. 2010
But humans couldn’t hear that note because its frequency was too low - the equivalent to a B-flat, some 57 octaves below the middle C note of a piano, according to NASA.
—Annabelle Timsit, Anchorage Daily News, 23 Aug. 2022
But humans couldn’t hear that note because its frequency was too low — the equivalent to a B-flat, some 57 octaves below the middle C note of a piano, according to NASA.
—Annabelle Timsit, Washington Post, 21 Aug. 2022
Just as someone who doesn’t know how to cook could make a perfect cake with the rights mix, so too a Spotify user who doesn’t know where middle C is on a keyboard could make perfect music, with AI assistance.
—Bill Hochberg, Forbes, 29 June 2022
Cite this Entry
“Middle C.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/middle%20C. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.
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