Timeline for Is there a way to turn sharps and flats into natural notes?

Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0

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Oct 15, 2018 at 18:44	comment	added	phoog		@Some_Guy indeed, the earliest versions of the tune didn't have the F#. The Library of Congress has a version from as late as 1861 without the raised 4th degree on "dawn's early light" at blogs.loc.gov/music/2010/03/our-national-anthem, though it does have a raised 4th degree at "flag still was there" (sic). The ca. 1790 print of the Anacreontic Song, however, lacks the raised 4th degree in both places: loc.gov/resource/ihas.100010458.0
Oct 14, 2018 at 18:57	comment	added	Some_Guy		To be honest with the star spangled banner the most passable solution is probably simply to play an F natural; in this specific case the melodic shape is more important and in this case an F natural still works as a weak ii V I that's not particularly jarring to the ear (you can imagine the melody having been written that way just fine, it just wasn't). If you play e d c E F G I doubt many people (other than musicians) would notice that much to be honest. Usually just dropping the sharp isn't a good solution of course, but in this case, it's not so bad,
Oct 14, 2018 at 18:42	comment	added	Some_Guy		With a melody like the star spangled banner that's so well known inside and out with people singing it on a regular basis, it's more difficult to get away with, but often you can change the melody slightly to avoid it. So for "by the dawn's early light" instead of playing e d c E F# G I'd play e d c E a G or e d c b a G. Now, if I was playing the star spangled banner in America, I suspect people might notice that melody change and notice it as "wrong", but in other melodies you can often get away with fudging the melody a little to fit in in the diatonic scale.
Oct 14, 2018 at 13:47	vote	accept	Gabriel
Oct 14, 2018 at 13:31	history	answered	Dekkadeci	CC BY-SA 4.0