Sharp
Flat
A Sharp occurs when you raise a tone in pitch by either one fret or move up from a white key by one black key on the piano.
A Flat denotes one tone lower by dropping down a fret or by dropping down one black key on the piano.
Determining Sharps and Flats
The rule for determining the name for the Sharpened or Flattened note is by looking at which note it is right next to in the musical alphabet. For example, a D lowered would be a Db and a C raised is a C#. Where it gets tricky, and where many new music students get hung up is understanding that both Db and C# refer to the same pitch. Here's how--
It's easiest to visualize the relations of the Sharps and Flats to Major notes by looking at the keys on a piano keyboard. A keyboard is a very linear instrument and stripes out the sequence of notes very intuitively. Notice how Sharps and Flats are always present on each black key, yet they go by two names - the Sharp form and the Flat form.
(*Note the exception to this rule for the B-C keys and E-F keys, as no black keys exist between them)
Any pitch can be raised by a semitone (a more compact word for half-step), and have an accidental appended to it. The pitch E# is the same pitch as F-natural. In the key of D, E# is the chromatically-raised second degree. Play the following line: C#-D-E-E#-F#-E#-F#-A-B-A. The E#'s and the B are decorations, and it helps to have them be different letters, to see the line move in music notation. More later . . . ;)
ReplyDeleteIf sharps and flats use the same key on the keyboard, does it matter whether we call it the one or the other? Answer: Yes. This is called musical *spelling*. Usually, a *chromatic* (that is, something using many accidentals) line will use sharps going up, and flats going down, but it has to do with the shape of the line and which pitches fall on the strong beats.
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