Accidental
Sharp, flat and natural — changing one note on the spot
Related
An accidental is a sharp (♯), flat (♭) or natural (♮) written beside a note to raise or lower it by a semitone, or to cancel an earlier sign. It differs from the key signature: the signature sets the default for the whole piece, an accidental governs the rest of the bar at that pitch.
The usual mistake is to think an accidental affects only one note: from the sign onward it applies to the same note name in the same octave for the rest of the bar, until the barline or another sign. It is temporary, but its temporary scope has boundaries.
Read deeper → Accidentals
Sources
- 变音记号的记号含义、生效范围与调号的关系，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Accidental"；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.