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The flat symbol, ♭, is a stylised lowercase b, derived from Italian be molle for "soft B" and German blatt for "planar, dull". It indicates that the note to which it is applied is played one semitone lower, or in modern tuning exactly 100 cents.
Demiflat / Half flat Lowers the pitch of a note by one quarter tone. (Another notation for the demiflat is a flat with a diagonal slash through its stem. In systems where pitches are divided into intervals smaller than a quarter tone, the slashed flat represents a lower note than the reversed flat.) Flat-and-a-half (sesquiflat)
Max Bruch's Concerto for Two Pianos in A-flat minor has its last movement in A-flat major, which is the parallel major; this concerto plays with the contrast between the two keys. Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag is also written in A-flat major (the trio part of the composition is written in D-flat major). Other compositions in A-flat major include:
A ♭ (A-flat; also called la bémol) is the ninth semitone of the solfège. It lies a diatonic semitone above G and a chromatic semitone below A , thus being enharmonic to G ♯ , even though in some musical tunings , A ♭ will have a different sounding pitch than G ♯ .
These alterations apply to the note as if it were a "natural", regardless of the key signature (see the F in measure 2 of the Chopin example below). If a note with a double sharp or double flat is followed by a note in the same position with a single sharp or single flat, there are two common notations. Modern notation simply uses a single flat ...
Notes that do not meet that criterion are called chromatic notes or accidentals. Accidental symbols visually communicate a modification of a note's pitch from its tonal context. Most commonly, [note 2] the sharp symbol (♯) raises a note by a half step, while the flat symbol (♭) lowers a note by a half step.
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 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 ...