# 3.2 Other accidentals

Note that there are some occasions when a white note on the keyboard can be a sharp or a flat. This may seem confusing, since sharps and flats have been introduced with reference to the black keys. However, a sharp raises any note, just as a flat lowers any note.

Example 7 Notating E sharp and C flat. All of the notes in this example are below middle C, so they are notated in the bass staff rather than on the grand staff

Consider the E sharp notated in the first bar of Example 7. The note immediately to the right of E on the keyboard is a white key that more usually goes by the name of F – but it can also be called E sharp (see Figure 7 for a depiction of this that uses a keyboard for greater clarity). Similarly, the note in the third bar of Example 7 is a C flat. The key immediately to the left of C is the white key usually known as B, but it can also be called C flat.

You can confirm this by playing Audio 2, in which you will hear the four notes in Example 7 in succession: E♯, F, C♭ and B. As you will hear, E♯ and F are the same note, and so are C♭ and B.

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Audio 2 Comparison between E sharp and F and between C flat and B

Again, E sharp and C flat may seem like strange possibilities, but you have already seen that black keys can have more than one name. The same is true of white keys.

Two final accidentals are the double sharp and the double flat: 𝄪 and 𝄫, respectively. These appear much less often than regular sharps and flats, but it is worth knowing about them so that you can identify them when you see them. A double sharp indicates that a note is raised not once but twice. The note F modified by the 𝄪 symbol would have the same sound as the note G (see Figure 7). Similarly, a double flat indicates that a note is lowered twice. The note B modified by the 𝄫 symbol would have the same sound as the note A.

Figure 7 Keyboard demonstrating relationship between A and B double flat, between B and C flat, between F and E sharp, and between G and F double sharp

OpenLearn - Introduction to music theory 2: pitch and notation
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