An accidental is a Music notation is a system of writing for music. The term sheet music is used for written music to distinguish from audio recordings. In sheet music for ensembles, a score shows music for all players together, while parts contain only the music played by an individual musician. A score can... musical notation symbol used to raise or lower the Pitch may refer to: Pitch is the property of a sound or musical tone measured by its perceived frequency Pitch, or tone of voice, refers to variation of tone in tonal language, and in languages with melodic accent Pitch, a throw of a baseball by a pitcher Pitch, part of... pitch of a This article is about music. For information about money, see banknote. In music, a note is either a unit of fixed pitch that has been given a name, or the graphic representation of that pitch in a notation system, and sometimes its duration, or a specific instance of either, so... note.

Standard use of accidentals

Examples of accidentals This image is ineligible for copyright and therefore in the public domain, because it consists entirely of information that is common property and contains no original authorship. Created with Sibelius File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to...

Accidentals: sharp, flat, natural

In most cases, a This article is about the musical notation. For alternate uses, see Sharp (disambiguation). Figure 1. The note C sharp on the treble clef. In music, sharp means higher in pitch. More specifically, in musical notation, sharp means higher in pitch by a semitone, and has an associated symbol (), which looks... sharp raises the pitch of a note one The musical interval of a half step, semitone, or minor second is the relationship between the leading tone and the first note (the root or tonic) in a major scale. It is the inversion of the major seventh. It is often abbreviated as m2. A minor second in just intonation... semitone while a Alternate uses: Flat (disambiguation) Figure 1. The note A flat on the treble clef. In music, flat means lower in pitch. More specifically, in music notation, flat means lower in pitch by a semitone, and has an associated symbol (), which looks like a lowercase b; the note A flat is... flat lowers it a The musical interval of a half step, semitone, or minor second is the relationship between the leading tone and the first note (the root or tonic) in a major scale. It is the inversion of the major seventh. It is often abbreviated as m2. A minor second in just intonation... semitone. A -1... natural is used to cancel the effect of a flat or sharp.

Since about 1700, accidentals have been understood to continue for the remainder of the In musical terminology, a bar or measure is a segment of time defined as a given number of beats of a given duration. The word measure is heard more frequently in the U.S., while bar is used in other English-speaking countries, although musicians generally understand both usages. A... measure in which they occur, so that a subsequent note on the same In musical notation, the staff or stave is a set of five horizontal lines on which note symbols are placed to indicate pitch and rhythm. The lines are numbered from bottom to top; the bottom line is the first line and the top line is the fifth line. The musical... staff position is still affected by that accidental, unless replaced by an accidental of its own. Notes on other In musical notation, the staff or stave is a set of five horizontal lines on which note symbols are placed to indicate pitch and rhythm. The lines are numbered from bottom to top; the bottom line is the first line and the top line is the fifth line. The musical... staff positions, including those an For the numerical computation software, see GNU Octave. In music, an octave (sometimes abbreviated 8ve or 8va) is the interval between one musical note and another with half or double the frequency. For example, if one note is pitched at 400 Hz, the note an octave above it is at... octave away, are unaffected. Once a barline is passed, the effect of the accidental ends, except when a note affected by an accidental (either explicit or implied from earlier in the measure) is tied to the same note across a barline; see courtesy accidentals, below.

This use contrasts with the In musical notation, a key signature is a series of sharp symbols or flat symbols placed on the staff, designating notes that are to be played sharp or flat unless otherwise noted with an accidental. Key signatures are generally written immediately after the clef at the beginning of a line... key signature, whose effect continues throughout an entire piece, unless cancelled by another key signature. An accidental can be used to cancel or reinstate the flats or sharps of the key signature as well for the duration of a measure.

Note that in a few cases the accidental might change the note by more than a The musical interval of a half step, semitone, or minor second is the relationship between the leading tone and the first note (the root or tonic) in a major scale. It is the inversion of the major seventh. It is often abbreviated as m2. A minor second in just intonation... semitone: for example, if a G sharp is followed in the same measure by a G flat, the flat sign on the latter note means it will be two semitones lower than if no accidental were present. Thus, the effect of the accidental has to be understood in relation to the "natural" meaning of the note's In musical notation, the staff or stave is a set of five horizontal lines on which note symbols are placed to indicate pitch and rhythm. The lines are numbered from bottom to top; the bottom line is the first line and the top line is the fifth line. The musical... staff position.

Examples of double accidentals This image is ineligible for copyright and therefore in the public domain, because it consists entirely of information that is common property and contains no original authorship. Created with Sibelius File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert...

Double sharp, double flat

Double accidentals raise or lower the pitch of a note by two semitones, an innovation developed as early as 1615. An F with a double sharp applied raises it a The musical interval of a major second — also called a whole-tone — is the relationship between the first note (the root or tonic) and the second note in a major scale (and also a minor scale). It is the inversion of the minor seventh. It is abbreviated as... whole step so it is In music, an enharmonic is a note which is the equivalent of some other note, but spelled differently. For example, in twelve-tone equal temperament (the normal system of musical tuning in the west), the notes C sharp and D flat are enharmonically equivalent - that is, they are represented by... enharmonic with a G. Usage varies on how to notate the situation in which a note with a double sharp is followed in the same measure by a note with a single sharp: some publications simply use the single accidental for the latter note, whereas others use a combination of a natural and a sharp, with the natural being understood to apply to the second sharp only.

Courtesy accidentals

Although a In musical notation, a bar or measure is a segment of time defined as a given number of beats of a given duration. The word measure is heard more frequently in the U.S., while bar is used in other English-speaking countries, although musicians generally understand both usages. Types... barline is always understood to cancel the effect of an accidental (except for a tied note), often publishers will use a courtesy accidental as a reminder if the note occurs in the following measure. This usage varies: whereas a few situations are construed to require a courtesy accidental, such as

• when the first note in a measure is one which had had an accidental applied in the previous measure
• after a tie carries an accidental across a barline, when the same note appears again in the subsequent measure

other uses are inconsistently applied.

Publishers of Jazz is a musical art form characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms, and improvisation. It has been called the first original art form to develop in the United States of America. Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in African American music... jazz music and some Atonality in a general sense describes music that departs from the system of tonal hierarchies that are said to characterized the sound of classical European music from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries. Currently, the term is used primarily to describe compositions written from around 1900 to the present day... atonal music sometimes eschew all courtesy accidentals.

Microtonal notation

Partial accidentals, used to notate quarter-tones This image is ineligible for copyright and therefore in the public domain, because it consists entirely of information that is common property and contains no original authorship. Created with Sibelius File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old...

Quarter-tone accidentals:
half-sharp, sharp, sharp-and-a-half;
half-flat, flat, flat-and-a-half

Composers of Microtonal music is music using microtones -- intervals of less than a semitone, or as Charles Ives put it, the notes between the cracks of the piano. The term is also used to refer to any music whose tuning is not based on semitones, such as western just intonation, Indonesian gamelan... microtonal music have developed a number of notations for indicating the various pitches outside of standard notation. One such system for notating A quarter tone is an interval half as wide (aurally, or logarithmically) as a semitone, which is half a whole tone. In equal temperament the quarter tone is 50 cents or 21/24 or 1.029302236643. In 24 tone equal temperament, or the quarter tone scale, it is the smallest... quarter tones, used by the Czech Alois Hába ( June 21, 1893 - November 18, 1973) was a Czech composer primarily known for his microtonal compositions, especially using the quarter tone scale, though he used others such as sixth-tones and twelfth-tones. His brother Karel Hába was a composer, and their father was... Alois Hába and other composers, is shown at right.

In the 19th and beginning 20th century when Turkish musicians switched from their traditional notation systems which were not staff based to the European staff based system, they created a refinement to the European accidental system in order to be able to notate Turkish scales which make use of intervals smaller than the tempered semitone. There are several such systems which vary as to the division of the octave they presupppose or merely the graphical shape of the accidentals. The most widely used system (created by Rauf Yekta Bey (1871-1935) Turkish musician, musicologist and writer on music. Wrote the first modern account of Turkish classical music available in a Western language (La Musique turque, in Encyclopedie de la musique et dictionnaire du Conservatoire, Premiere partie, Paris, 1922 (written in 1913)). Categories: Music stubs ... Rauf Yekta Bey) uses a system of 4 sharps (roughly +25 The cent is a unit in a logarithmic scale of relative pitch or intervals. 1200 cents are equal to one octave, and an equally tempered semitone is equal to 100 cents. The formula to determine the value in cents between two notes with frequencies a and b is: The ratio... cents, +75 The cent is a unit in a logarithmic scale of relative pitch or intervals. 1200 cents are equal to one octave, and an equally tempered semitone is equal to 100 cents. The formula to determine the value in cents between two notes with frequencies a and b is: The ratio... cents, +125 The cent is a unit in a logarithmic scale of relative pitch or intervals. 1200 cents are equal to one octave, and an equally tempered semitone is equal to 100 cents. The formula to determine the value in cents between two notes with frequencies a and b is: The ratio... cents and +175 The cent is a unit in a logarithmic scale of relative pitch or intervals. 1200 cents are equal to one octave, and an equally tempered semitone is equal to 100 cents. The formula to determine the value in cents between two notes with frequencies a and b is: The ratio... cents) and 4 flats (roughly -25 The cent is a unit in a logarithmic scale of relative pitch or intervals. 1200 cents are equal to one octave, and an equally tempered semitone is equal to 100 cents. The formula to determine the value in cents between two notes with frequencies a and b is: The ratio... cents, -75 The cent is a unit in a logarithmic scale of relative pitch or intervals. 1200 cents are equal to one octave, and an equally tempered semitone is equal to 100 cents. The formula to determine the value in cents between two notes with frequencies a and b is: The ratio... cents, -125 The cent is a unit in a logarithmic scale of relative pitch or intervals. 1200 cents are equal to one octave, and an equally tempered semitone is equal to 100 cents. The formula to determine the value in cents between two notes with frequencies a and b is: The ratio... cents and -175 The cent is a unit in a logarithmic scale of relative pitch or intervals. 1200 cents are equal to one octave, and an equally tempered semitone is equal to 100 cents. The formula to determine the value in cents between two notes with frequencies a and b is: The ratio... cents), none of which correspond to the tempered sharp and flat. They presuppose a Pythagorean division of the octave taking the Pythagorean comma (about an 8th of the tempered tone, actually closer to 24 The cent is a unit in a logarithmic scale of relative pitch or intervals. 1200 cents are equal to one octave, and an equally tempered semitone is equal to 100 cents. The formula to determine the value in cents between two notes with frequencies a and b is: The ratio... cents, defined as the difference between 7 octaves and 5 just-intonation 5ths) as the basic interval. The Turkish systems have also been adopted by some Arab musicians.

Benjamin Burwell Johnston, Junior (born March 15, 1926 in Macon, Georgia) is one of the best known composers writing in the just intonation system. He is best known for extending Harry Partchs experiments in just tuning to traditional instruments through his system of notation. Johnston taught composition and theory... Ben Johnston created a system of The word notation can be used in several senses: In musical composition, the music is represented by musical notation In chemistry, the Lewis notation denotes chemical bonds In quantum mechanics, Diracs Bra-ket notation is another representation of probability amplititudes In relativity, for example, Tensor notation is a general... notation for pieces in Just intonation is any musical tuning in which the frequencies of notes are related by whole number ratios. Any interval tuned in this way is called a just interval. Another way of considering just intonation is as being based on members of the harmonic series. Thus, although in theory two... just intonation where the unmarked C, F, and G Major chords are just major chords (4:5:6) and accidentals are used to create just tuning in other keys.

History of accidental notation

All of the symbols are derived from variations of the letter B: the sharp and natural from the square "B quadratum," and the flat from the "B rotundum."

In the beginning of European music notation (4-line staff Gregorian chant is also known as plainchant or plainsong, and is a form of monophonic, unaccompanied singing, which was developed in the Catholic church, mainly during the period 800-1000. It takes its name from Pope St. Gregory the Great. This music was traditionally sung by monks or other male... Gregorian chant manuscripts) only B could be altered (i.e. applied an accidental to: it could be flattened, thus moving from hexachordum durum (i.e. hard In music, a hexachord is a collection of six tones. The term was originally used in the Middle Ages, but gained new currency in the 20th century with the development of musical set theory. Middle Ages The basis of most if not all medieval European music theory is the hexachordal... hexachord: G-A-B-C-D-E) where it is natural, to hexachordum molle (i.e. soft In music, a hexachord is a collection of six tones. The term was originally used in the Middle Ages, but gained new currency in the 20th century with the development of musical set theory. Middle Ages The basis of most if not all medieval European music theory is the hexachordal... hexachord: F-G-A-Bb-C-D) where it is flat; B is not present in the third hexachord hexachordum naturale (i.e. natural hexachord: C-D-E-F-G-A)).

This long use of B as the only altered note incidentally helps explain some notational peculiarities: the flat sign actually derives from a round B, to signify the B of the soft hexachord, i.e. B flat (hence the name of the flat sign in French "bémol" from medieval French "bé mol" — modern French "bé mou" — or "soft b") and originally meant only Bb; the natural sign derives from a square B, to signify the B of the hard hexachord, i.e. B natural (hence the name of the natural sign in French "bécarre" from medieval French "bé carre", earlier "bé quarre" — modern French "bé carré" — or "square b") and originally meant only B natural. In the same way, in the German notation the letter B only designates the B flat while the letter H, which is actually a deformation of a square B designates the B natural.

As polyphony became more complex, other notes (than B) needed to be altered in order to avoid undesirable harmonic intervals (especially the augmented 4th that theory writers called "diabolus in musica", i.e. "the devil in music"). The first sharp in use was F#, then came the second flat Eb, then C#, etc.; by the 16th century Bb, Eb, Db, Ab, Gb and F#, C#, G#, D# and A# were all in use.

However, those accidentals were often not notated in vocal scores (but were always notated in tablatures). This notational practice of not marking implied accidentals, leaving them to be supplied by the performer instead, was called In European music prior to about 1600, musica ficta (from Latin, false or feigned music) referred to chromatically altered pitches, not notated in the music, which were to be supplied by singers. Simply put, musica ficta were notes outside of the diatonic modal system in use in a given piece... musica ficta (i.e. "feigned music").

External Links

• Tonalsoft Encyclopaedia of Tuning (http://tonalsoft.com/enc/index2.htm?accidental.htm)