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Accidentals

Before now, we've only talked about "pure" notes, or notes without any symbols . However, if you've seen complicated music, you must have noticed that there are sometimes strange symbols in front of notes. These symbols are called accidentals.

Accidentals indicate to play a half pitch/step above or below the written note, depending on the symbol used. There are 3 kinds of symbols: sharps (), flats (), and naturals(). Each of these will be examined in detail in the next few sections.

Another note: Accidentals are sustained throughout a measure. This means that if a note has an accidental, then the rest of the notes of the same name in the same measure will also have that accidental. For example, if note F has an accidental, then another F in the same measure will also share that accidental.

Review

1. An accidental indicates to play a half pitch above/below the written note, depending on the symbol used.
2. There are 3 kinds of accidentals: sharps, flats, and naturals.
3. Accidentals are sustained throughout a measure.