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Natural (music)

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Example
An A natural, then A♭.
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In modern Western music notation, a natural (♮) is a musical symbol that cancels a previous sharp or flat on a note in the written music. The sharp or flat may be from a key signature or an accidental. The natural indicates that the note is at its unaltered pitch.[1]

♮
Natural (music)
In UnicodeU+266E
(HTML : &#9838)

Examples

The natural symbol can be used as an accidental to cancel sharps or flats on an individual note. It may also be shown in a key signature to indicate that sharps or flats in a previous key signature are cancelled.

A note is referred to as 'natural' when the letter-name note (A, B, C, D, E, F, or G) is not modified by flats or sharps from a key signature or an accidental. These notes correspond to the white keys on the keyboard of a piano or organ.

The keys of A minor or C major and their scales contain all natural notes, whereas other scales and keys have at least one sharp or flat.

F♭, C♭, E♯, B♯, and most notes inflected by double-flats and double-sharps correspond in pitch with natural notes but are regarded as enharmonic equivalents of the natural note.

The natural sign is derived from a square b used to denote B♮ in medieval music (in contrast with the round b denoting B♭, which became the flat symbol). The Unicode character MUSIC NATURAL SIGN '♮' (U+266E) should display as a natural sign. Its HTML entity is ♮.

Notation

In musical notation, a natural sign (♮) cancels a flat or sharp from either a preceding note or from the key signature.

{ \omit Score.TimeSignature \key aes \major s8^"" \bar "||" \key f \major s^""}
{ \omit Score.TimeSignature \key e \major s8^"" \bar "||" \key g \major s^""}

Sometimes these cancelling naturals at a key change are omitted, but they must be used if the new key has no flats or sharps.

\relative c' { \omit Score.TimeSignature \set Staff.printKeyCancellation = ##f \key aes \major s8^"" \bar "||" \key f \major s^"" \bar "||" \key e \major s^"" \bar "||" \key c \major s^"" }

Like all accidental markings, the natural symbol is written to the left of the note head and applies to subsequent notes of the same pitch through the remainder of the measure.

{ \omit Score.TimeSignature \relative c'' { b!1 }}

Canceling the previous natural sign on a note of the same pitch is done by adding a new accidental, e.g. a flat (♭) accidental (see below).

{ \omit Score.TimeSignature \key f \major \time 3/4 bes' b' bes'}

If a key change indicates flats or sharps of a key signature changing to double flats or double sharps, naturals are sometimes used to cancel the single flats or sharps.[citation needed]

Double natural

A double natural is a symbol that has two naturals (♮♮). It may be used to cancel a double flat or double sharp, but in modern notation a single natural sign (♮) is acceptable.[2]

{ \omit Score.TimeSignature \relative c'' { beses2_"Older Practice" \tweak Accidental.restore-first ##t b bisis \tweak Accidental.restore-first ##t b beses_"Modern Practice" b bisis b } }

Similarly, a simple ♭ or ♯ without a natural sign can be used to indicate that a double flat or double sharp has been changed to a single flat or sharp, but older notation may use ♮♭, ♭♮, ♮♯, or ♯♮ instead.

{ \omit Score.TimeSignature \relative c'' { beses2_"Older Practice" bes bisis bis \accidentalStyle modern beses_"Modern Practice" bes bisis bis } }

When used as a temporary accidental sign, they apply to the note on which they are placed, and to all subsequent similar notes in the same staff, measure and octave.

  • When changing a flat to a sharp or vice-versa, the combined symbols ♮♯ or ♮♭ can be used.[5]
  • In John Stump's Prelude and the Last Hope, double naturals are used to cancel double flats in a key signature.[6]
dn=\markup{ \natural \hspace #-.5 \natural } { \omit Score.TimeSignature \set Staff.keyAlterations = #`((6 . ,DOUBLE-FLAT)(2 . ,DOUBLE-FLAT)(5 . ,DOUBLE-FLAT)(1 . ,FLAT)(4 . ,FLAT)(0 . ,FLAT)(3 . ,FLAT)) s^"" \bar "||" \key cis \major \override Staff.KeyCancellation.stencil = #ly:text-interface::print \override Staff.KeyCancellation.text = \markup { \concat {\dn \raise #1.5 \dn \raise #-0.5 \dn \raise #1 \natural \raise #-1 \natural \raise #0.5 \natural \raise #-1.5 \natural}} s^""} \paper{tagline = ##f}

References

  1. ^ Benward & Saker (2003). Music in Theory and Practice, Vol 1, p.6. McGraw-Hill, Seventh edition. "Natural (♮)—cancels any previous sharp or flat and returns to the natural, or unaltered, pitch."
  2. ^ "OnMusic Dictionary - Term". www.music.vt.edu. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  3. ^ Max Reger: Clarinet Sonata No.2 (Complete Score), pp. 33.: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
  4. ^ Wen, Eric (2011). "E-quadruple flat: Tovey's Whimsy". Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie (in German). 8 (1): 77–89. doi:10.31751/612.
  5. ^ Chopin: Études No. 9, Op.10 (C.F. Peters), pp. 429.: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
  6. ^ "Prelude and the Last Hope in C and C Minor". 3 March 2012.
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