Q816335

In musical notation, an accidental is a symbol that indicates an alteration of a given pitch. The most common accidentals are the flat (♭) and the sharp (♯), which represent alterations of a semitone, and the natural (♮), which cancels a sharp or flat. Accidentals alter the pitch of individual scale tones in a given key signature; the sharps or flats in the key signature itself are not called accidentals.

An accidental applies to the note that immediately follows it and to subsequent instances of that note in the same measure, unless it is canceled by another accidental. A sharp raises a note's pitch by a semitone and a flat lowers it by a semitone. Double flats () or sharps () may also be used, altering the unmodified note by two semitones. If a note with an accidental is tied, the accidental continues to apply, even if the note it is tied to is in the next measure. If a note has an accidental and the note is repeated in a different octave, notation conventions vary. In modern notation, an accidental should be indicated on the second note to clarify, but some older notation assumes that the initial accidental applies across octaves. In the uncommon situations of a mid-measure clef change or an octave sign, the accidental would be canceled (as at a barline). The resulting notation can be ambiguous to read, and a courtesy accidental would be indicated.