4 minute read
Alter a note’s pitch with accidentals
Learn what these quirky symbols mean and whip your sharps and flats into shape
The term ‘accidentals’ is given to little symbols that turn a note into a sharp or flat, or back to a natural. Essentially, the symbols tell you how to modify the pitch of the note. Flat lowers the pitch by one half step/ semitone and sharp raises the pitch by a half step/ semitone. You’ll see these symbols to the left of note in question, and you will also notice them clinging on to the treble and bass staves between the clef and the time signature. This is what is known as the key signature.
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Key signatures tell musicians which key the tune is played in, and refer to the sharps and flats that are to be used throughout the piece – you’ll need to memorise the ones to play from the signature. If you’ve learnt the different scales, you will be able to recognise key signatures much faster. For example, if the music tells you that the key is G major, you will know to use all of the notes from the scale of G major, including F sharp. All key signatures except for C major/A minor have sharps and flats in them. The signature itself will have the little sharp or flat signs on the corresponding line of the stave for that note.
Another accidental is the natural. When this is next to a note it cancels out the sharp or the flat instructed by the key signature or prior accidentals, so you should play the natural note, ie the white key.
Sharps, flats and naturals
Master using accidentals in just a few very simple steps
01 Simple symbols
Here are the basic symbols for sharp, which looks like a hash symbol (#), flat, which looks like a ‘b’, and natural, which looks like a box with a stick at alternate corners. These appear next to notes and in key signatures.
02 Key it in
Notice the key signature next to the clefs. The symbols are on the F and C lines to tell you that these notes are sharps. G sharp is not in the key signature, so an accidental must be used if you want to notate it.
03 Playing with flats
In this example the symbols are on the B line and the E space on both clefs, instructing you to play a B flat and an E flat every time you see a B or an E in the music. G flat is not in the key signature, so an accidental must be used.
04 Natural symbols
Here, F and C are played as sharps. However when you see the natural symbol, you play the white key. You should play C natural for the duration of the bar, so there are two C naturals in the second bar, even though there’s only one symbol.
Accidentals in action
See accidentals on the page as they help the music come alive
D major/B minor Here you can see the key signature of D major/B minor. It tells you to play two sharps throughout the music, which are F# and C# Back to sharps Although we had a C natural in the previous bar, since the bar has finished we’re back to obeying the key signature. This note is C sharp
Top tip Enharmonic equivalents On a piano, look at the black key between C and D. This is C#, as it’s a half step above C. But it’s also a half step below D, so it can also be called Db. This is an enharmonic equivalent.
C naturals These notes would be C sharps, but the natural sign means you must play C naturals. Unless dictated otherwise, the rest of the Cs in the bar – such as the following note – are naturals. This resets after the bar line, though A tricky bar The first note here is a C sharp, as a bar has passed since the C natural before it. However, the second note is C natural as it a carries a natural accidental. If the next note had no accidental it would be C natural, but the sharp sign means it’s C sharp
Doubling up
What do you get when you double your sharps and flats?
A double flat is signified by using two flat symbols (‘bb’), and the double sharp symbol looks like an x. Whereas a flat or sharp alters a note’s pitch by one half-step/semitone, you’ll find that a double flat or double sharp alters the note by a full step/tone. In our examples, Gbb is the same as F natural because it’s two semitones (a tone) lower, while Gx is the same as A natural as it’s two semitones higher.
