Lesson 27: Accidentals – Putting it all together
Category: Lessons
Quick! What are the five different types of accidentals?! I’ll pretend like I can hear your answer…
If you said: sharps, flats, naturals, double sharps, and double flats, you are correct! If you didn’t answer correctly, just pretend you did, and give yourself a pat on the back! I won’t know the difference!
Here is a look at all of the accidentals together.. I didn’t include any labels. Try to name the accidentals and identify what their function is.
The next challenge is to put them all together. For example: You have a piece of music with 3 flats: B flat, E flat, and A flat. In your piece of music you encounter a B with a natural sign next to it. What note do you play? Well you would play the natural version of the key – the white key!
Try to answer theses questions yourself before you look at the answers:
- What symbol would you use to raise a flat 1 semitone?
- What symbol would you use to raise a flat 2 semitones?
- What symbol would you use to raise a flat 3 semitones?
- What symbol would you use to lower a double sharp one semitone?
- What symbol would you use to raise a double flat one semitone?
- What symbol would you use to lower a double sharp 2 semitones?
Here are the answers:
- What symbol would you use to raise a flat 1 semitone? A flat is one semitone lower than a note in its natural state. Therefore, to raise a flat one semitone, we must use a natural sign.
- What symbol would you use to raise a flat 2 semitones? Since a flat is one semitone lower than a note in its natural state, and a sharp is one semitone higher, if we use a sharp, the note will be raised 2 semitones.
- What symbol would you use to raise a flat 3 semitones? A natural will raise it one semitone, a sharp will raise it 2. To raise it 3, we must use a double sharp. Remember, a double sharp raises the pitch of the note by 2 semitones above its natural state.
- What symbol would you use to lower a double sharp one semitone? A double sharp is 2 semitones above the note in its natural state. A sharp is only one semitone above the note in its natural state. Therefore, to lower a double sharp by one semitone, we will use a sharp.
- What symbol would you use to raise a double flat one semitone? A double flat is 2 semitones lower than a note in its natural state. A flat is only one semitone lower. We would use a flat.
- What symbol would you use to lower a double sharp 2 semitones? A double sharp is 2 semitones higher than a note in its natural state. To lower a double sharp by 2 semitones, we would use a natural.
I hope this gave you a good idea of how accidentals work when they are all put together into the same picture. I have nothing more to say about accidentals. You know just as much about accidentals as I do now. I feel inadequate all of the sudden…
Posted on February 23rd, 2010 by sharlene
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