Natural Sign
Cancels a sharp or flat and restores the unaltered note
Related
A natural sign, written ♮, cancels a preceding sharp or flat and restores the unaltered note. It removes both a chromatic accidental in the bar and a default alteration carried by the key signature.
After a key signature, a natural pulls that degree back to its natural form: C♮ in D major is the flattened seventh. Modern scores also use courtesy naturals: a note altered in the previous bar is marked again in the new bar, even though the alteration has already lapsed, to warn the player.
♮ does not affect only its own note. Like other accidentals it lasts for that pitch to the end of the bar. The square shape of the natural descends from the medieval letter b, so read old sources in context.
Sources
- 还原号的记号来源与生效范围，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.