Key signature key signatures showing sharps or flats on both octaves for notes which fall within the staff. An accidental is an exception to the key signature, applying only to the measure and octave in which it appears. Although a key signature may be written using any combination of sharp and flat symbols, the most common series of thirteen homogeneous key signatures—ranging from six flats to six sharps, with each successive flat or sharp placed on the note a perfect fifth below or above, respectively, the previous one—is assumed in much of this article. A piece scored using a single diatonic key
Absolute pitch may lead to playing in a tonality that is slightly different from that of the rest of the group. Absolute pitch shows a genetic overlap with synesthesia/ideasthesia, and some individuals with music-related synesthesia also have perfect pitch. They may associate certain notes or keys with different colors, enabling them to tell what any note or key is. It is unknown how many people with perfect pitch are also synesthetes. Absolute pitch is not a prerequisite for skilled musical performance or composition. However, musicians with absolute pitch tend to perform better on musical transcription tasks (controlling for age of onset and