What Is an Accidental in Music?

Have you ever marveled at the way an ensemble of musicians is able to play in perfect harmony? Practice plays a role in this, but so does the written music from which musicians read as they play.

This occurs through the use and understanding of music notation. The better musicians understand musical notation, the easier it is for them to play in concert, seemingly without effort.

Accidentals are one type of music notation that tells musicians which notes to play. As you gain a better understanding of music, you'll see just how powerful and versatile accidentals can be.

Accidentals are closely associated with scales and key signatures. This means that it is essential to first understand these topics before diving into accidentals.

What Are Scales and Key Signatures?

Many pieces of music primarily use notes on a certain scale. Accordingly, you may hear musicians referring to a song as being "in the key" of that particular scale.

As an example, a song in the key of G Major would be made up of the notes G, A, B, C, D, E, and F♯.

In most pieces, you will see that the composer has designated a key signature that tells the musician which notes will be played as sharp, flat, or natural throughout the composition.

Introducing Accidentals

Occasionally, the composer wants to use a note that is not included in the piece's key signature. Using the above example in the key of G Major, assume that the composer wants to include a C♯ or a B♭. It is necessary to use an accidental to achieve this.

Essentially, accidentals simply are notes that are not a part of the key signature of the song you are playing. An accidental is signified by a ♯ for sharps, a ♭ for flats, or a ♮ for natural.

Depending upon the accidental included in the music notation, the musician knows to change the tone by raising or lowering it a semitone, which also may be called a half step.

The Five Accidentals

Altogether, there are five accidentals. These are:

• ♯ The sharp, which raises the note by one-half step;
• ♭ The flat, which lowers the note by one-half step;
• X The double sharp, which raises the note by two half steps;
• ♭♭ The double flat which lowers the note by two half steps; and
• ♮ The natural, which cancels the effect of an accidental.

How do composers use accidentals to write music?

Using Accidentals

When you are playing a tune in the key of G Major, all of the included notes are natural notes with the exception of the F. This note must be played as a sharp in this key.

However, you may come across a bar in the song that places a ♭ next to the F note. In the same bar, you may see ♮ as well. These notations change the notes that would normally be played in the piece.

Still, there are two rules that are followed in conjunction with accidentals that may affect other notes too.

The first of these rules is that the accidental must be applied first to the note to which it is immediately adjacent. Additionally, the accidental must be applied to each repetition of that specific note for the remainder of the bar.

However, should a note with an accidental be repeated at an octave that is higher or lower within the same bar, then the accidental typically does not apply to this note. Some musicians may argue that there are exceptions to this rule.

To make all of this easier to understand and easier for musicians to read, the composer may mark additional instances of that note with another flat, sharp, or natural sign to show whether or not the accidental applies.

It is also essential to understand that the accidental is not carried over to the subsequent bar. Remember that each bar is marked by a vertical line that goes from the bottom to the top of the staff. Crossing a bar means that all accidentals from the previous bar are abandoned and the regular key signature is resumed.

How Do Accidentals Work with Tied Notes?

Accidentals may cross over the bar line in certain limited circumstances. For instance, if a note is tied across a bar line, this tells the musician that these two consecutive notes should be played as one-note.

Accordingly, the accidental must be retained for that note only. The adjacent note is played in the normal key signature unless the composer repeats the accidental on that note.

What About Double Accidentals?

It is rare to see double accidentals used in music. These notations tell musicians that a note should be raised or lowered by two semitones. Only sharps and flats may be doubled. There is no such thing as a double natural.

Why are double accidentals so uncommon? This can be illustrated with an example. A D note that is raised by two semitones is an enharmonic equivalent with an E♮. Accordingly, these two notes sound essentially the same.

The same can be said for a G♭♭. Lowering a G by two semitones makes it sound essentially equivalent to an F♮.

Because these notes are enharmonically equivalent, it is simpler and more convenient to simply write them as these other notes rather than notating with a double flat or sharp sign.

The upshot is that you are most likely to see double accidentals in pieces that are played in keys in which many sharps and flats already occur.

More About Enharmonic Notes

Picture the keyboard on a piano. You can see that there are black keys on top of the white keys. All of these keys are named.

The black key that is situated between D and C may be either a D♭ or a C♯. Likewise, the black key that is found between the D and the E may be either D# or E♭ and so on.

When notes have similar pitches but different notations, they are known as enharmonic notes. While these notes sound alike, composers use them differently in accordance with the chosen key signature for the piece.

The white keys on the piano similarly may have several names. As an example, a key for the C note also may be called B♯.

Courtesy Accidentals

This bit of music notation may not be familiar even to some musicians with a few years of lessons under their belts.

In fact, many composers may say that courtesy accidentals aren't even necessary, but those who are really choosy about ensuring that their pieces are played exactly as they were intended to sound still may use courtesy accidentals to give musicians every possible indication along the way.

A composer may include courtesy accidentals in a piece to clarify which pitch is intended to be used. This helps to avoid misunderstandings among the performers. Typically, a courtesy accidental is shown with a typical accidental marking that is placed in brackets, such as (♯).

Courtesy accidentals are most useful when two bars are tied across the bar line. The courtesy accidental is added to the repeated note after the tie to show that the previously indicated accidental does not apply.

Courtesy accidentals also may be used when a note is given an accidental in the first bar that is then repeated in the second bar. The courtesy accidental is added to remind the musician that the initial accidental is not needed in the new bar.

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