The_Complete_Idiot%27s_Guide_To_Music_Theory
The_Complete_Idiot%27s_Guide_To_Music_Theory
The_Complete_Idiot%27s_Guide_To_Music_Theory
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Accidents Will Happen<br />
When you assign a key signature to a piece of music, it’s assumed that all the<br />
following notes will correspond to that particular key. How, then, do you indicate<br />
notes that fall outside that key?<br />
First, it should be noted that you can play outside a key. For example, it’s okay<br />
to play the occasional B natural when you’re in the key of F, which normally has<br />
a B-flat. No one will arrest you for it—in fact, certain types of music regularly<br />
employ nonscale notes.<br />
When you decide to write a note that isn’t within the current key, you have to<br />
manually indicate the change in the music—by using sharp, flat, or natural<br />
signs. When musicians see the inserted sharp, flat, or natural, they know to play<br />
the note as written, rather than as indicated by the music’s key signature.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se “outside the key” notes are called accidentals or chromatic notes; they’re<br />
quite common.<br />
For example, let’s say a piece of music is in the key of F, which has only one flat<br />
(B-flat). You want your melody to include an E-flat, which isn’t in the key. So<br />
when you get to that note, you insert a flat sign before the E to indicate an<br />
E-flat. It’s as simple as that.<br />
Use accidentals to indicate notes outside the current key signature.<br />
<strong>The</strong> same theory would apply if you want to include a B natural in the same<br />
piece, instead of the expected B-flat. If you simply insert a natural sign before<br />
the B, you’ve accomplished your mission.<br />
When you change a note with an accidental, that accidental applies until the<br />
end of the current measure. At the start of the next measure, it’s assumed that all<br />
notes revert to what they should be, given the current key. So if you flat an E in<br />
measure one of an F Major melody, the first E you write in measure two will be<br />
assumed to be natural; not flatted.<br />
<strong>The</strong> one exception to this rule occurs when you tie a note from the end of one<br />
measure to the beginning of the next. <strong>The</strong> accidental carries over—thanks to the<br />
tie—to that first note in the second measure, as you can see in the following example.<br />
(Ties are explained in Chapter 5.) Note that the accidental doesn’t apply to<br />
any subsequent notes in the second measure; it applies only to the tied note.<br />
Accidentals apply to all notes tied over a measure.<br />
Chapter 4: Major and Minor Keys<br />
Note<br />
Jazz and blues music often<br />
add flatted thirds and sevenths<br />
within the designated<br />
major key, which<br />
give these styles their<br />
unique sound.<br />
Warning<br />
An accidental<br />
applies only from that<br />
point in the measure to the<br />
end of the measure. It<br />
doesn’t affect those notes<br />
in the measure before the<br />
accidental appears.<br />
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