Accidental (music) Accidental (music) In music, an accidental is a note of a pitch (or pitch class) that is not a member of the scale or mode indicated by the most recently applied key signature. In musical notation, the sharp (), flat (), and natural () symbols, among others, mark such notes—and those symbols are also called accidentals. In the measure (bar) where it appears, an accidental sign raises or lowers the immediately following note (and any repetition of it in the bar) from its normal pitch, overriding sharps or flats in the key signature. A note is usually raised or lowered
Key signature names and translations is invariably assumed to be major. In the German notation scheme, a hyphen is added between the pitch and the alteration ("D-Dur"). Minor key signatures are written with a lower case letter ("d-Moll"). For example, to describe Bach's Mass in B minor one could use: Key signature names and translations When a musical key or key signature is referred to in a language other than English, that language may use the usual notation used in English (namely the letters A to G, along with translations of the words "sharp", "flat", "major" and "minor" in that language): languages which use the