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The equivalences you mention---C♯/D♭, D♯/E♭, etc.---aren't actually the same note. They're called enharmonically equivalent pairs, but only in Equal Temperament are they tuned to the same frequency. See this question for more information on why they're not the same note. As for why we need flatted notes at all, let's look at ...

See the section on tuning systems on Wikipedia for some background. In short, most intervals do not sound best on equally-tempered scales (where the distance between any two consecutive half steps is the same) but on ones where the notes vary in distance. For instance, fifths usually sound the most in tune when the frequencies are in a 2:3 ratio. Because ...

These are also known as augmented and diminished notes, respectively. Often it has to do with altering notes in a key that are already sharpened or flattened, such as a harmonic minor in a key where the 7th is a sharp. You could write F## (or Fx) as a G, but then your scale would have no F note in it but two different G's. Every time you put down an G ...

It depends on the tuning system being used. If you're tuning by perfect intervals, i.e. intervals in which the ratios of the frequencies are in whole-number pairs, then Gb isn't exactly the same as F#. For example, say you're tuning to A440 and using perfect intervals. Then the E above the A is tuned to 440 * 3/2 = 660 Hz. The B above the E is tuned to ...

The natural sign next to the C is a "courtesy accidental". It is there only to make it absolutely clear to the player that the C is not to be sharp. It is correct that an accidental only carries through the bar, and thus that the one here is not necessary. But were it not there, though the note would be a C-natural, it would be easy upon sight-reading to ...

There are the tuning differences, as already mentioned. Then there is the function difference. If you have an entire piece in D major, using the tones in D major, seeing a D♭ instead of a C♯ would be very awkward. When writing music, the rules (simplified) are: use the tones of the key currently in use (could be a different key than the main key, the ...

It's spelling. It's like "hear" vs. "here". You wouldn't write "Come over hear so I can here you better" even though it sounds the same. A major triad is spelled as if the notes are a certain distance apart. On the staff the notes will be on three lines or three spaces. In the key of C sharp minor, the tonic chord is C sharp, E, G sharp. You write it ...

I'm not sure why you'd have any reason to question why it's real ... it's not really related to G Major though, no more than C# major is related to C Major. It's enharmonically equivalent to A♭ major, just like C# Major = D♭ Major or F# Major = G♭ Major. As for pieces involving it, Wikipedia mentions some. In general, keys with ...

C# is not the same as Db any more than the English word "hear" is the same word as "here". Understanding why there is a difference is an important foundation to Western melody and harmony. It's important to understand the following: the vast majority of western music involves 12 notes in an octave the vast majority of western music is based around a scale ...

Based on your question and the comment to left to Neil's answer, the term that seems to fit your needs most closely is accidental. That said, I'm not sure it's exactly what you want, and I'm not sure what you want actually exists. This is because the notion of "flatness" or "sharpness" are not absolute qualities the way major and minor are, rather they are ...

Yes it does affect it. The accidental always remains in effect for the remainder of that measure. However, if the two notes are of different octaves, the first accidental does not change the latter notes. If a G5 is sharped, for example, all remaining G5's of the measure will be sharped. G4's, G6's or G's of any other octave will be left natural. A natural ...

You're mostly spot-on with your analysis, but you miss something critically important: the two notes are not the same. They are enharmonic, but they are different notes. Assuming the context of C major, C will trill to its adjacent note, D, and D will trill to its adjacent note, E. Accidentals applied to the base note do not affect the note that is trilled. ...

When you are playing fretless string instruments, especially bowed instruments in small groups, you become very sensitive to these differences. I will not quantify them as there are already other answers on this area. When I was young, I was told the comma model of the occidental scale and I think it is a good first approach of these issues in most ...

As an isolated question, it's sometimes hard to understand why it's important that there is a difference but understanding why there is a difference is an important foundation to Western melody and harmony. the vast majority of western music involves 12 notes in an octave the vast majority of western music is based around a scale consisting of 7 of those ...

The flat or sharp symbols (not yet considering double-sharps and double-flats, we'll get to that) are used for two purposes: to indicate how the diatonic notes of a key different from the notes in the key of C to indicate how chromatic notes differ from the diatonic notes It's in the latter case you encounter double-sharps and double-flats. Consider the ...

To understand what an accidental is, you must first understand what a key signature is. That is answered at: What is a key signature? .. but briefly, a key signature is a set of markings telling you which notes to always play as sharps or flats. For example, the key signature for F major consists of a ♭ in the B position, meaning "Whenever a B appears in ...

The larger question is why any composer would use a certain key signature rather than its enharmonic equivalent. For instance the choral music composer John Rutter is known for notating songs in C♭ major (with seven flats) rather than in B major (with five sharps). In the equal-tempered system, C♭ major and B major are the same key. Despite the fact that ...

Accidentals are notes which don't usually occur in the key the piece of music is in. For instance, if you're playing a piece in C major and there's a B flat, then this is an accidental note since B flat isn't in the scale of C major. Accidentals are easy to spot in notation since they'll always have a sharp ♯, natural ♮, or flat ♭ sign ...

"Sharp" means a note that is half a step higher, and "flat" means half a step lower. The way your question is currently written, you're looking for a name for something that is both half a step higher and half a step lower, which makes no sense. Perhaps you're looking for the term accidental? An accidental is a note not part of the current scale. For ...

Intonation This truly fills your criteria, but I think you were intending to speak on a slightly higher level. For any given pitch in the set of 12 we use in modern harmony (that is, including C, F#, Eb, etc.), the degree to which that note is in or out of tune in either a flat or sharp direction is called intonation. Alteration This might be closer to ...

Realize first that keys can be, and very often are, "temporary" within a piece. That is, the tonality may modulate to a new key without changing key signatures. Accidentals are used to indicate on notes that are in the tonality of that section. With that in mind, I could imagine that G♯ Major would be used in a number of works, but not as a key signature. ...

It's all about conventions. It would sound pretty awkward to say that the major key of G sharp has both natural G and G sharp, don't you think? It's also done to make obvious when there's a foreign note to the current scale (say, a natural B in a C sharp major key). It's might be used by composers to point out certain tonal (diatonic or chromatic) ...

The flats and sharps came about separately as modulations toward the subdominant and the dominant, respectively. The subdominant is more important in older western music and church music. The dominant modulation was a more recent development. So going from C to F is a modulation toward the subdominant. To modify the lydian mode (C scale starting on F, ...

This is probably the best reference for the concept you're looking for: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interval_(music)#Interval_number_and_quality Your basic three-note chord contains two intervals: from the root to the third note above it in the scale, and from the root to the fifth above it. Both intervals have a quality, as do all of the intervals in ...

Generally accidentals above notes refer to accidentals that are missing in the original but were likely mistakes in the original or were not notated originally but are necessary in modern scores (for instance, in a piece with no key signature, a low F# might be followed by an F# in a higher octave. In the 18th c. the higher F# would not need a sharp sign, ...

I'd call it a Courtesy Accidental. If the composers meant a double-sharp, he would have marked it as such. A sharp sign added to a note that is already sharped by the key signature does not double sharp it. The sign is meant for clarity only. The omission of the sharp sign would be played the same.

It as an A#. Not A double-#. This is done sometimes to indicate that, yes, I really mean A#, not A. In modern notation, it would have parentheses around it: (#). Other editions omit the # entirely.

To answer your question broadly, you should always use what is going to read easiest for the performer. Putting a scale of flats in E major would be very confusing and unwieldy as E major contains four sharps and musicians are much more accustomed to reading sharps in keys where sharps naturally occur; such as E, A, or B major for example. Expressing E ...

The rules you have learned are generally sound advice, but music is now to the point where we performers generally have to be able to deal with those kind of problems pretty fluidly, but fortunately performers typically are at this point. The sharp and flat rule is particularly applicable to chromatic scales, but even this basic form of the rule is broken ...

If it's a key that uses sharps on the cycle of fifths use sharps. Likewise for flats. Almost every score I've played through has been written this way. Even if it calls for things are a little trickier to read. Also with regards to mixing sharps and flats it's normally for something wierd like the Phrygian major stuff you get in Klezmer.