Hi David,

quote: Also, I think that the octave numbers are strictly U.S. (and, by habitual extension, Canadian) useage. Middle C is C5 in this chart. Europe uses, I think, a positive/negative system with middle C as 0

This is an interesting question. Several years ago I tried out a composition program that was essentially like writing in a piano roll editor (pretty complex for one used to notes on a staff). Instead of notes one entered lines corresponding to note durations in the octave one wanted. The octaves were graphed on the screen and middle C was the beginning of octave 4, which made the A, Bb and B at the bottom of the piano octave zero. The program was written in Europe, I believe.

It would be nice if there were a global standard.

best,
mgj