Accidental (music)

Accidentals are signs in the score indicating the change ( alteration ) of a master tone. It is also called accidentals ( alternate spelling: accidents; singular: accident ) or Akzidentalien.

Such accidentals can put naturals by one or two semitones up or down. In addition, there are special accidentals for the offset at quarter -, sixth -, eighth - and twelfth-tones, which are used in the new music as well as transcriptions of ethnic music.

Types of accidentals

We distinguish:

• The cross ( ♯ ) for sharp pitch; to the note name the suffix " IS" is appended ( for example, C → cis, H → His)
• The double cross () for the increase by two semitones, the note name and the suffix " - isis " hanged ( for example, C → CISIS, H → Hisis )
• The B ( ♭ ) the suffix " it " is for the humiliation by one semitone, the note names hanged ( for example, C → Ces, but: H → B, A → As)
• The double -b ( ) for the reduction by two semitones, the note name and the suffix " - eses " hanged ( for example, C → CESES, A → Asa or Ases, H → Heses )
• A natural sign ( ♮ ) cancels the effect of a pre-or dislocation character in tact.

All dislocations start from the Stammton, not from a possibly pre- recorded sound. In a preliminary drawing with a ♯ is of a Fis a Versetzungszeichen ♭ a Fez, not F.

Doppelakzidenzien occur where the root has been changed by a sketch by a half tone; to provide a non pre- recorded sound with a Doppelakzidens, does not correspond to musical practice, as this the enharmonic tone is used (eg Fisis in A major ( F #, C # and G # are mapped ) would be correct, in A minor ( no sign), it would be G).

Terms of altered tones

The naming of the altered tones occurs regardless of possible enharmonic changes. Thus, for example, the sound is His, which is obtained by increasing the H, in just intonation and thus in the harmonic function a different tone than the C. In gleichstufiger mood these two notes are, however, mapped to the same sound, so z. example, the keys on the keyboard will each receive several note names.

Demarcation to sign

Accidentals differ in several respects from the use of the same sign as the sign:

• Accidentals are directly in front of a certain note. In contrast to these are signs immediately after the key (before the time signature ).
• An accidental applies only in that cycle in which it is listed. Except for about tied notes applies after the next bar line so again the pre- recorded pitch. In contrast, the sign shall be valid until the end of each piece of music, unless they are overwritten by a new sketch.
• Accidentals apply only to exactly the designated pitch, for all octave ranges.

Usage

In German, the following rules apply:

• When increasing by a cross, the name of Stammtons is extended exclusively to the suffix " -is". So cis, dis, ice (pronounced e -is), fis, gis, ais (pronounced a- is), his.
• Degradation is, in most cases by the suffix " es " in. Exceptions make this the naturals e, a and h Specifically: ces, of, it, fes, ges, as, b (instead hes ).
• Double increase by a double cross provides CISIS, DISIS, eisis, fisis ..., double reduction by a double -b CESES, deses, eses, feses, geses, asas or ases, heses (instead of better ). These duplicate alterations occur only in the short term as accidentals on, never as a sign.
• In the language, it is also common to call the temporary accidentals slightly out of focus " sign " to; for better differentiation should in this case, the standing at the beginning of the grading system signs are called "general signs ".

In English and Romance languages ​​the Stammtonnamen themselves are not expanded but get the ( trailing ) attributes:

• ♯: engl. sharp, French thé, Italian diesis
• ♭: engl. flat, double bémol, Italian bemolle.

See: Note labels in other languages

Warnakzidenzien

For the sake of clarity actually superfluous accidentals are sometimes still appear as Warnakzidenzien, for example, in the following cases:

• When the clock was previously a different dislocation
• If in another voice at the same time or shortly before another transfer is considered ( in the same cycle ) (eg, in a cross- state )
• If tied notes that maintain the alteration, are separated by a line break, so the dislocation character is repeated at the beginning of the new line

History of accidentals

Since ancient times there in the music of the Western world from the principle of diatonic, which draws its melodic tension from the exchange of different sized pitch intervals ( whole-tone and semitone steps ). This was taken in the modes based on music of the Middle Ages. The Stammtonreihe was then designated by the letters ABCDEFG. In the older chant notation formed from about the 10th century, initially only two accidentals out who are always on the then Stammton B refer to: the b rotundum ( "round B") or b molle ( " soft B" ) refers to the lower Tonvariante, the b quadratum ( " square B") or b durum ( "hard B") higher. The b rotundum is the direct precursor of today's dislocation character ♭, while both natural sign ♮ and the cross developed from the b quadratum later ♯. The designation b molle the foreign accentuations bemolle ( Italian) or bémol (French ) and the name of the minor Tongeschlechts derive from the name of durum b major.

Over the centuries, the appearance of the b quadratum the letter " h" approached to. This solidified in the 16th century with the advent of the printing press, because you did not have a printing type for the b quadratum available and chose as a substitute representation, the "h". This change had an impact on the designation of the Stammtonreihe: in many language areas of Central Europe ( in English, Norwegian, Swedish, Polish, Slovenian, Czech ) received the Stammton even h the names and humbled tone the name b. In contrast, the Stammton kept in English the name b at, while the decreased tone means there b flat. This cleavage leads to the accentuations today regularly to confusion among musicians.

Quarter-tone accidentals

Quarter-tone accidentals are similar chromatic accidentals are the notation of pitch differences. They are used to supplement the Halbtonzeichen Cross ( ♯ ) and b ( ♭ ) in the quarter-tone music. Through them naturals be increased by an or three quarter tones or decreased.

To date there is no unified system of signs as in the Halbtonversetzungszeichen. The commonly used systems are, however, difficult to interpret due to their similarity to the chromatic accidentals.

Examples: