Key signature may consist of one or more sharps combined with one or more flats (such as a signature containing both F and B). Key signatures of this kind can be found in the music of Béla Bartók, for example. The effect of a key signature continues throughout a piece or movement, unless explicitly cancelled by another key signature. For example, if a five-sharp key signature is placed at the beginning of a piece, every A in the piece in any octave will be played as A sharp, unless preceded by an accidental (for instance, the A in scale 2 illustrated –
Stopped note Stopped note On string instruments, a stopped note is a note whose pitch has been altered from the pitch of the open string by the player's left hand pressing (stopping) the string against the fingerboard. On bowed string instruments, a stopped note is a played note that is fingered with the left hand, i.e. not an open string. This assists with tone production, the addition of vibrato, and sometimes additional volume but creates difficulty in that bowed string instruments do not have frets, requiring ear training and accurate finger placement. The lack of frets, as on the guitar fretboard, does