Theory tends to address things like lower interval limits with regards to usability, but not so much extremes. What is your use case? Your question seems relevant to music software and instrument development, but not so relevant to everyday theoretical hurdles…
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Good info, thank you.
I know this might be a historical question.
If you were to teach someone the note names, is it important to start on C and not the more logical A?
Anyone wondering in future:
The lowest note is such that frequency = 1/(age of the universe) 
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NASA says it’s Bb. Probably some dang aliens playing their interstellar doom metal too loud 
NASA - Interpreting the 'Song' Of a Distant Black Hole
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I often start teaching with A, especially for piano lessons just because it gives them a mnemonic aid. This just helps them memorise the notes before I introduce any music theory.
The order should make sense, unfortunately I live in a part of the world that is still in the dark ages in terms of music theory. So they have the nonsensical order of A (B) h C D… to learn. I still think it helps to start with A though.
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H? What form of theory is that?
It’s common in german-spoken regions, maybe surroundings, but I donÄt know about that.
The myth says, that some monk misspelled the letter b as an h while copying some literature (while I find this explanation quite improbable).
Yes, I’m in Norway, and I think its used in Scandinavia in general at least.
Way back in the day, Gregorian chants had 8 notes in the scale, A, Bb, B, C, D, E, F, and G. It’s actually a bit more complicated than that but it boils down to 8 notes. Back then what we call “Bb” today the monks called “B” and “B” was called “H”. The H stuck around in some parts of Europe.
It’s also where we get the flat and natural symbols. Bb was used in the soft hexachord and was notated with ♭ and in the hard hexachord it was notated with ♮.
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Dane here, can confirm!
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Sine waves are like needles. Square waves comprise a set of many needles of decreasing height. Might not “see” that 20hz needle in a square wave, but you will likely feel some of its other component needles that appear in audible range. Careful with those needles!
So each note has a number next to it that most people don’t know about, and that number gives the octave of the note, you can see it here:
So a guitar can get you roughly E2 to E6. The famous “middle [of a piano] C” is C4, you can see that it fits on a guitar, but not the lower and higher notes of a piano, many fall off. Lots of common instruments are here, and you can directly compare them to see where they overlap:
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Yo Whammy, you’re question is already two years old, but I just stumbled on it via a Google search just now - I was wanting to confirm my own figuring on the same question you ask here.
Read through all the expert replies here and sounds to me like no one actually really answered the question - sometimes experts seem not to be able to fathom the simplicity and basicness of a novice’s perspective.
I love music, but I know nothing about music - zilch (therefore I may be the most qualified person here in this forum to understand and answer this question most directly and clearly!).
Bought a guitar about two weeks ago (and I know guitar music can be played because I’ve seen it - otherwise I don’t think at this point that I would believe it) and yesterday I bought an electronic metronome (not that I have any real use for it yet, but somebody said “buy a metronome”), and I was trying to figure out how the metronome works (I’ll get to the guitar someday).
One of its functions seems to be that it “cycles” (somebody else in this forum used that word) through the 12 tone scale!
At first I had a hard time distinguishing - higher? lower? - but after a few hours of just clicking through the 12 tone scale it slowly dawned on me and I think I could hear it!
Seems to me C is the lowest note of the scale, at least the one I was listening to (and I think they should all cycle-through in this same way), as best as I can tell.
Could one also put it that C is the lowest note of any particular octave in the standard Western 12 tone musical scale? - I mean unless if the chosen octave started on C (can that happen?), which means C would repeat, so then one would have to say the lowest note in that octave is the lower of the two Cs.
Anyway, the point is that in one cycle of the Western 12 tone musical note progression…
A B Bb C C# D Eb E F F# G G#
…C is the lowest note.
I’m guessing that there is probably some reason why they don’t just call that note “A,” and start from there (I mean besides just wanting to confuse novices).
Anywho, experts, please chime in on how my commentary here is incorrect, if that is the case - I mean if you can actually understand what the question here is!
However, I am still a little worried that maybe I don’t understand how the question might not make any sense:
Watch: Richard Feynman on Why He Can’t Tell You How Magnets Work (sciencealert.com): https://www.sciencealert.com/watch-richard-feynman-on-why-he-can-t-tell-you-how-magnets-work
Oh yeah, and that would make B the highest note.
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Hi Gong, I think you’re certainly thinking on my wavelength. Tho tbh with you I’ve kind of given up on fundamental (and possibly ignorant) questions like this. As I’ve learned over time that things seem to flow in cycles, and it’s all about perspective. In an infinite existence, my lowest note may be different from yours etc…
I am having a hard time remembering my original concept, but it was mostly along the lines of trying to cement a scale in my head that was “true”. There are people with perfect pitch and logically to me that means they have a grasp, or anchor in some form of truth or reality separate from subjective perception. A kind of lock on to vibrations and an almost visual perception of the level of pitch they are hearing.
I know as I add more and more words to this it just gets more confused, but that was my intuitive concept, that there must be something that perfect pitch people are locking onto that I can understand conceptually. Of course in music, just like life the more you learn the more complex it gets, so I’ve been confused so many times and to the point of just letting it go.
Idk if there is a common frequency that we all vibe with or if it’s a free for all where the vibration you currently feel is just one of an infinite perspective. No doubt my original question was a bit more fundamental than my text implied and I really appreciate you seeing that. But honestly, where I am atm is just a limbo between my own intuitive feelings, and others realistic experiences. So I am aware of my ignorance and willing to learn from others who show honest seeking into some fundamental reality. If thats even a real thing 
Edit: was rather drunk making that post lol
And in regards to the cycle… I think my original question is about where does that cycle start… What note
That I think is what I meant. I apologise as you know how it is, life is a trip… a mess, so much stuff going on. It’s hard to get a grip of even you most intimate thought from the past 
The key of C starts with a C as the first note. The key of B starts with a B as the first note… and, as you have gathered, the key of A starts with A as the first note.
Nope, the concept of “lowest” or “highest” makes no sense (at lest to me), and I think that you’ll immediately understand why: Let’s pretend that you have a piano and want to play in the key of C (you can only press white keys). You don’t have just one “A,” you have lots of them, and they are numbered as follows, from low to high: A0, A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, and A7. Going much higher (A8, A9, etc.) doesn’t really serve musical purpose, and going much lower results in a ridiculous size (and also serves little musical purpose).
So A5 < B5 but A5 > B3. So statements like “A < B” make no sense, as you can see, because they’re not specific enough: Which A and B are they talking about?!
Does this make sense? 
Note: I forgot to bring in guitars. A guitar starts (for standard tuning) with E2 as the lowest note that it can support, and if it has 24 frets, it can hit E6 (no bending). So E2 is the second E on a piano keyboard, that’s where a guitar starts. (For reference, a bass guitar starts at E1, the first E on a piano keyboard.)
Note: Ah, I think that I get the original question! Let’s say that we’re looking at a particular octave, say the 5th. Then yes, C5 < D5 < E5 < F5 < G5 < A5 < B5, and in that sense C is the “lowest” of the notes in that octave.
I wonder what is typically the lowest discernable note. I know the lower you go the more muddy it gets. I wonder if people with perfect pitch loose the sense of the note at some point
The Bosendorfer Imperial goes down to C.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIOQ2Fwto8k
Note names are convenient labels for specific frequencies. And not everyone agrees on the frequencies. See e.g.:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A440_(pitch_standard)
It’s not just a historical or orchestra issue either. Yngwie, SRV and others tune to E♭. But the sheet music is often written as if the guitar was tuned to E. This also seems to be how e.g. Yngwie thinks about it. He’ll say a song is in A, but it’s A = 415.3 Hz. Which sounds the same as A♭ when A = 440 Hz.
Adam Neely has an interesting video on perfect pitch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRaACa1Mrd4
TL;DW for people with perfect pitch, their absolute sense of pitch drifts over time and they lose it with age.
Which I think confirms there is no lowest note name we can all agree on. And if there was, we can’t all hear the same range of frequencies (and the frequencies we can hear reduces over time). So…