Well, this "convention" is only true for anglo-saxonic countries. No latin country uses it. The Germans, as you said, use the H (which was in fact a B square, or B dur(um), in medieval times) for the B, and the B for the B moll (B flat - that's where the word "bémol" and also the flat symbol come from).mystran wrote: ↑Sat Feb 16, 2019 4:24 pmFor any traditional scale, the letters always go in order A,B,C,D,E,F,G in a loop. Note that this order is alphabetic. I guess whoever came up with it must have preferred minor scales and it's quite curious that we also generally tune instruments on reference A.. but whatever. You can rotate the starting letter to your tonic and you can add any number of sharps or flats as required, but the letters always go in order.
For example, if we wanted a minor scale in Cb, we would have Cb, Db, Ebb, Fb, Gb, Abb, Bbb. On piano Cb is the same physical key as B, so the actual physical keys used are the same as for B minor, where the notes would be B, C#, D, E, F#, G, A, but note that in both cases we follow the alphabetic ordering, with flats/sharps to adjust the actual pitches.
The only common exception to this "alphabetic" rule is the German nomenclature (used in many european countries, at least in classical circles, so it's good idea to be aware of this weirdness) where "H" is used in place of "B" and "B" instead means what is known as "Bb" elsewhere. Your scale can only have one of these though and otherwise all the same logic applies though. I can't seem to find a reference on the web right now, but if I'm not mistaken this weird convention traces back to some early typographical issues, making it quite illogical for real.
OTOH, Latin countries, as well well as almost any other country, use names for the notes. In French is Ut, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Si. In Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, etc., is Do, Re, Mi, Fa Sol, La, Si.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_note