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A sharp raises a note's pitch by a semitone and a flat lowers it by a semitone. Double flats or sharps may also be used, which alter the unmodified note by two semitones. If a note with an accidental is tied, the accidental continues to apply, even if the note it is tied to is in the next measure. If a note has an accidental and the note is ...
Notes that are shown as sharp or flat in a key signature will be played that way in every octave—e.g., a key signature with a B ♭ indicates that every B is played as a B ♭. A key signature indicates the prevailing key of the music and eliminates the need to use accidentals for the notes that are always flat or sharp in that key. A key ...
Similarly, a simple ♭ or ♯ without a natural sign can be used to indicate that a double flat or double sharp has been changed to a single flat or sharp, but older notation may use ♮♭, ♭♮, ♮♯, or ♯♮ instead. When changing a flat to a sharp or vice-versa, the combined symbols ♮♯ or ♮♭ can be used. [6]
In all major scales with flat key signatures, the tonic in a major key is a perfect fourth below the last flat. When there is more than one flat, the tonic is the note of the second-to-last flat in the signature. [11] In the major key with four flats (B ♭ E ♭ A ♭ D ♭), for example, the second to last flat is A ♭, indicating a key of A ...
The flat symbol (♭) is used in two ways: It is placed in key signatures to mark lines whose notes are flattened throughout that section of music; it may also be an "accidental" that precedes an individual note and indicates that the note should be lowered temporarily, until the following bar line.
Similarly, a sharp sign raises the pitch by one semitone. For example, a sharp on the note D would raise it to D♯ while a flat would lower it to D♭. Double sharps and double flats are less common, but they are used. A double sharp is placed before a note to make it two semitones higher, a double flat - two semitones lower.
In music, letter notation is a system of representing a set of pitches, for example, the notes of a scale, by letters. For the complete Western diatonic scale, for example, these would be the letters A-G, possibly with a trailing symbol to indicate a half-step raise (sharp, ♯) or a half-step lowering (flat, ♭). This is the most common way ...
In music, sharp – eqv. dièse (from French) or diesis (from Greek δίεσις) [a] – means higher in pitch. The sharp symbol, ♯, indicates that the note to which the symbol is applied is played one semitone higher. The opposite of sharp is flat, indicating a lowering of pitch.