(PN) Accidentals: Sharps, Flats and Naturals Lesson

Accidentals: Sharps, Flats, and Naturals

An accidental is a sign used to raise or lower the pitch of a note. The first accidentals that we will discuss are the flat and the sharp. The flat lowers a note by a half step while the sharp raises a note by a half step. Half steps occur on the piano keyboard between any white key and black key as well as between any two white keys without a black key between them (B-C and E-F). When typing, you can use a "#" to represent a sharp and a "b" to represent a flat.

A natural cancels out any accidental and returns a note to its original white key.

 

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