In this article, I will explain about temporary symbols in sheet music.
Specifically, “sharp (#)”, “flat (♭)”, and “natural (♮)”.
Many of you have heard the name and symbol somewhat before.
I will explain what these mean in piano notation.
*The roles of the accidentals and key signatures are different. The key signatures will be introduced in a separate article.
Sharp (#)
First is Sharp.
The meaning is “raise a semitone”.
What does it mean to raise a semitone?
Raising a semitone means, in plain English, changing one note to a higher note.
In the keyboard, it looks like the figure below.
For the sake of clarity, we consider the “le” sound to be the standard in this case.
As you can see from the diagram, if you raise the “le” a semitone, it will be the black key right next to the “le”. (not “mi”).
In other words, if you have a score like the one below
The corresponding keyboard keys are indicated by the blue circles in the figure below.
Similarly, “Do,” “Fa,” “So,” and “La” are also marked with a sharp (#), which means a semitone up, so they are the next black keys to the right.
Now the sharps are perfect.
*Although you rarely see them, only the “c” and “mi” keys, which do not have a black key next to them on the right side, are played on the white key next to the right side when the semitone goes up.
white key.
white key on the right side.
In other words, “#Si” (the sharp of the shi) becomes “Do” and “#Mi” (the sharp of the mi) becomes “Fa”.
Flat (♭)
The meaning of flat is “to lower a semitone.
This means changing one note to a lower note.
The keyboard is shown in the figure below as well as the Sharp’s explanation
Therefore, if you lower the “le” a semitone, it will be the black key to the left of the “le”. (not “Do”).
In the case of a score like the one below
The corresponding keyboard keys are indicated by the blue circles in the figure below.
The other notes will likewise be in the black key next to the left.
For “Do” and “F”, which also have no black keys to the left, a flat (♭) will be added to the white keys to the left (“C” and “M”).
Valid range of temporary symbols
Temporary symbols have a valid range.
Since it is so “temporary,” it does not apply to all subsequent tones.
Basically, it is valid for
1 bar
is
Natural (♮)
The meaning of natural (♮) is “to invalidate the previous change sign (♯ or ♭).
Therefore, even if the change sign is within the valid range, a natural (♮) will return to the original sound with a single blow.
The natural (♮) is also the same temporary symbol and has a valid range.
In summary, the figure below shows
When you have so many “le’s” in a row, it causes a gestalt collapse (laughs).
These are the temporary symbols.
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