I often come across texts that confuse the concepts of notes and tones. Thus this little blog post that I can refer people when explaining the difference.
While the terms “note” and “tone” may be used interchangeably in casual conversation, they have distinct meanings from a music theoretical perspective:
Note: A note refers to a symbol in musical notation that tells the musician which pitch to play and for how long. Notes are represented by symbols like whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, etc., and they can also indicate dynamics (loudness), articulation, and other musical qualities.
Tone: A tone refers to the perceived pitch of a sound (for example, the tone C). It is sometimes also used to denote an interval (there is a whole tone between C and D). Tone is sometimes also used to refer to the quality or color of a sound, often described as timbre.
I often say that a tone is the sound of a note and a note is the symbolic representation of a tone.