• Music Tutorials
• Piano Tutorials
• Quick Lessons
• My Videos

• Music Tutorials
  • Introduction
  • Structure of Music Notation
  • Letters and Notes
  • Rhythm & Time Signature
  • Accidentals & Key Signature
  • Musical Terminology
  • Additional Info
• Piano Tutorials
  • Introduction
  • Hand Positions
  • Hand-Eye Coordination
  • Practice & Sample Music
  • Additional Info
• Quick Lessons
  • Introduction
  • Canon in D
  • Flight of the Bumble Bee
  • Für Elise
  • Moonlight Sonata
  • Turkish March
  • Unfaithful
• Piano Info
  • Why Learn Piano?
  • This Website and You
  • Private Lessons Info Sheet
• Extras
  • FAQ
  • Videos

Naturals

A natural indicates to play the pitch exactly as written.

On the piano, this is represented by playing the written key. On the five bar staff, this is represented by a in front of the note.

Then why do we bother writing naturals if they tell us to play exactly as written? Well, sometimes, Note (A) will have an accidental, but we don't want Note (B) in the same measure to have an accidental. So, we would write a natural on Note B so that it would not have Note A's accidental (because, remember, accidentals are sustained throughout a measure).

Example: if we want to play a G (Note A) followed immediately by G (Note B), we would write a natural on the G (Note B) so that the sharp on G (Note A) doesn't carry over.

Moreover, we use naturals to negate the effects of the Key Signature.

Example: if the Key Signature says that F should be sharped, but we don't want the pitch F , we would write a natural next to F.

Review

1. Naturals tell us to play the note as written.
2. Naturals are used to negate the effects of a previous accidental prescribed in the same measure or in the Key Signature.