Music Theory De-mystified BlogSharpen

This post is one of a 2-part series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here. Please feel welcome to make a comment or ask a question.

The term accidental has two similar meanings:

In general terms, an accidental is a symbol that affects the pitch of a note. The main accidentals are sharp, flat and natural.
In a musical context, the term accidental is also used to describe a note that doesn’t belong to the key of the piece; the scale that the piece is based on.

Give Me A Sign…

Symbols for accidentals such as # or b are called signs, not symbols.

A sharp sign acts like a plus sign: it adds 1 semitone to the pitch.
A flat sign acts like a minus sign: it subtracts 1 semitone from the pitch.
A natural sign cancels a previous sharp or flat.

Back in our first lesson we briefly looked at sharps and flats. Here’s a reminder.

For notes on a stave, accidentals are written before the note, immediately to the left of and at the same pitch position as the notehead.
When written as text, accidentals are written after the letter.

Writing a sharp next to a note raises its pitch by one semitone, without changing its name. Sharp = natural plus 1 semitone.

For instance, B# is one semitone higher than B. C is also 1 semitone higher than B. C is a much easier name than B#, so normally you’d call that note C. However, in some circumstances, the name B# is appropriate. We will see some examples of this in the next few posts.

A flat does the opposite to a sharp. Writing a flat next to a note lowers its pitch by a semitone, again without changing its name. Flat = natural minus 1 semitone.

Again, there are occasions where an unlikely name such as Cb is more appropriate than the natural, B.

Here are some more accidentals.

The letter notes are naturals; they aren’t raised or lowered. Normally we don’t need a sign to indicate that. However, if we’ve just used a sharp or flat (e.g. F#) and we want to follow it with the natural (F), we use the natural sign to indicate that the sharp or flat is now cancelled.

Double Trouble

There may not seem any point at this stage, but a note can be raised or lowered by as much as 2 semitones! We do this using the double sharp or double flat signs.

We already had 2 possible names for most notes, now we have even more!

Double sharps and double flats aren’t that common. We don’t randomly name a note as double sharp! It requires a really good reason to use them.

Nonetheless, notes are named according to their function in the music and sometimes their use is appropriate. If you see one, don’t worry – it’s just more of the same, “sharp sharp” or “flat flat”…

Sharpen And Flatten

To sharpen or flatten means to raise or lower a note by 1 semitone while keeping the same note name. For instance, if we change an F to an F# or a Bb to a B, we have sharpened it. You might ask, “why would we change any notes in a scale?”

In real life, we’re talking about musical pieces, not scales. Most music doesn’t just stick with the one scale for the whole piece. Also, notes can be changed temporarily just for effect, such as an ornament.

The note naming rule requires that each note in the scale has its own letter. If a note temporarily replaces a scale note it must use the name of the note it replaces. We use an accidental to make it the right pitch.

For example, if F and G are both scale notes and we want to write the note in between, it’s name depends on whether it replaces F or G in the scale. If it replaces F, it’s sharpened (= F#). If it replaces G, it’s flattened (= Gb).

Some scales have lots of sharps or flats. The note which is sharpened may already be a sharp in the scale. In that case we use a double sharp. Similarly, if we flatten a note that was already a flat it becomes a double flat. Double sharps and double flats, although fairly rare, are no big deal…

To sharpen a note is to raise it by 1 semitone without changing its name. A double flat becomes a flat, a flat becomes a natural, a natural becomes a sharp and a sharp becomes a double sharp.
To flatten a note is to lower it by 1 semitone without changing its name. A double sharp becomes a sharp, a sharp becomes a natural, a natural becomes a flat and a flat becomes a double flat.

If you change the note name, you are NOT sharpening or flattening, you’re using a different note!

Try These

Grab a pencil and a piece of paper and try some sharpening and flattening. Actually doing it is the best way to learn…

Sharpen the following notes:

Bb, C, G#

Flatten the following notes:

C#, A, Db

Answers at end of post.

This post is one of a growing series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here.

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NEXT LESSON: 10. How To Find The Notes Of A Scale

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

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Answers

This post is one of a growing series of holistic investigations into various aspects of music theory. The full list can be found in the Posts page under the category Music Theory De-Mystified.

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Musical context

Individual intervals and chords can be listened to by themselves, out of context, or within the context of a particular piece.

Any interval or chord has an effect; a character, based on how the notes interact. However, the context of the surrounding notes can produce “sleight of ear”. The interval or chord can appear to sound different than when played by itself or in another musical context.

Musical context is a combination of the overall key and mode and the development of the piece. Many pieces visit various keys along the way, resulting in a temporary key. As the music progresses through these visiting keys there is interplay between the home key and the visiting key and the listener’s viewpoint shifts.

Altered notes in either the melody or chords can also result in sleight of ear.

Sleight of ear example 1

Here are two examples of changing from an A major chord to an E major chord. The first example the melody feels like A is the home chord and we’re venturing out to E. In the second example, just one slightly different note in the melody suggests that E is home and we’re arriving home from a visiting key. This is especially noticeable when we hear the progression repeat itself.

Interestingly, the addition of D# in the melody implies the key of E major, and that’s how we hear it. To reflect this, the above example is written with the key signature of A major for the first example and E major for the second.

Sleight of ear example 2

The classic example of sleight of ear is the interval between the 6th and 7th notes of the harmonic minor, which is 3 semitones despite being consecutive scale notes (letters). This interval gives the scale an exotic quality reminiscent of Gypsy music.

From the 6th note to the 7th sounds like an unusually large step, a stretched out 2nd. It is called an augmented 2nd, reflecting how we hear it in the scale.

Normally, 3 semitones is a minor 3rd. When we hear this interval by itself we assume the first note to be the root note: it sounds like the first 3 notes of a minor scale with the 2nd note left out, or the start of a minor chord or minor triad.

The same size interval feels unrecognisably different in these two different contexts.

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Videos taken from Music Theory De-Mystified, due for release as an e-Book late 2022.

Tag: Sharpen

9. Accidentals, Sharpen and Flatten