THE MUSICAL ALPHABET & ACCIDENTALS

INTRO TO GENERAL MUSIC:

HOW TO READ MUSIC

THE MUSICAL ALPHABET & ACCIDENTALS

So first, the most important thing to learn about reading music is the alphabet in music. No, we’re not going to sing the alphabet song we learned in preschool; however, the alphabet in musical terms is different. Instead of having 26 letters in the alphabet, in music we only have seven: A, B, C, D, E , F, and G. After that, well, the letters repeat again from A to G over and over. In addition, the order usually goes like this: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C… according to the keyboard. This is because the key “C” is approximately in the middle of the piano. There are also higher and lower pitched letters of the musical alphabet, but the middle area is usually used the most, so we aren’t going to worry too much about that. Remember, the keys C, D, E, F, G, A, and B are only the white keys on the keyboard.

Of course, there are also the black keys on the key board. Now, those keys are kind of special. They are mainly used for accidentals-- notes that are used to raise or lower the pitch of a note. Black keys are the halfway note between the musical letters C, D, E, and so on. When playing up a scale, which is any musical notes/letters ordered by fundamental frequency or pitch, the black keys are called sharps. When playing down a scale, they are called flats. I know, I know, this is a lot to take in, but hang in there fellas. A sharp symbol looks kind of like a hashtag symbol (#) while a flat looks a lot like a fancy letter “b”. You use these sharps and flats like this:

(ex. C and D and E playing up a scale: C C# D D# E playing down a scale: C D D E E)

Furthermore, sharps and flats are used in different musical scales (ascending; as in increasing pitch, or descending; as in decreasing pitch). Also keep in mind that a scale can start with any note, including the letters, sharps, and flats; such as the A# Major scale, the D Major scale, or the B minor scale. On the keyboard, a certain sharps and certain flats actually share the same key/note. Refering to the diagram above, for example, the note of C# and D are the same key, meaning that the two notes actually have the same sound. If this is a little confusing to picture, here’s a diagram to look at for a better understanding:

See?

Notice how there are no sharps or flats between the keys of E and F, or B and C. Well, according to what I searched from "the cloud", this is what I can up with from a Yahoo! user online, who answered the question: "Why is There No B Sharp in the Piano?"

"You have to realize first that this is not just the case for the piano. This is the case for all music in general. No matter what instrument you are playing, a B# = C and an

E# = F, and vice versa.

Acoustics dictate that every octave can be divided into 12 different pitches. But a typical scale only uses 7 pitches of that one octave, leaving 5 pitches with no home. Those pitches are why there are only 5 black keys per octave to go with the 7 white keys. If an octave were divided into 14 pitches, then maybe we would have 7 black keys to go with those 7 white keys, but that is simply not the way that the acoustical properties of sound work. And the reason we don't have six white keys and six black keys, is that in a typical scale, it takes 7 different pitches (plus an octave) to create a scale. Why have six and six, if the typical scale contains 7 pitches?

The uses of black keys is mainly asthetic though. And it is unique to the piano. For example, you could have a piano with no black notes at all. You could have a piano that has 12 white keys per octave, instead of 7 white keys and 5 black keys. But think about it, which one would be easier to play? Thus, 7 white, 5 black."

(Answered by Yahoo! online user Ryan K. for the question "Why is There No B Sharp in the Piano?" on http://answers.yahoo.com /question/index?qid=20080924015136AAYEqJm)

Fun Fact: In music, there are also double sharps ( ) and double flats ( ). Now that you know that sharps & flats are a semitone (1/2 step) higher or lower than different notes, a double sharp is actually 1 whole step higher than a note, while a double flat is 1 whole step lower than a note. These accidentals are rarley used, however.

Here's an example of all the accidentals for the note A

Oh, and one more thing. Accidentals not only include sharps, double sharps, flats, and double flats; but also naturals! Shown in the diagram above, you know all the accidentals except that wierd little deformed sharp sign above the note A... Well, that's the natural sign for you! A natural sign means that the pitch of the orignal note stays that same--unaltered or natural. According to the note A in the diagram, if it is A , that means that it is neither A sharp, nor A flat, and neither A double sharp, nor A double flat. Period.