Why do people say B flat instead of A-sharp?
But if the function of the note at a particular point in the piece is as the third note in the Gm scale, you can only write it B♭ and not A♯. A♯ means something completely different. It's the musical equivalent of "hear" versus "here". Just because they are homophonic doesn't mean they are the same word.
In music, flat (Italian bemolle for "soft B") means "lower in pitch". Flat is the opposite of sharp, which is a raising of pitch. In musical notation, flat means "lower in pitch by one semitone (half step)", notated using the symbol ♭ which is derived from a stylised lowercase 'b'.
Noun. (music) the theoretical major key with A-sharp as its tonic and the notes A#, B#, C𝄪, D#, E#, F𝄪, G𝄪. Such a high number of accidentals (especially double sharps) is undesirable. Therefore, it is usually scored and referred to as its enharmonic equivalent; B-flat major.
Some people say you should pick based on what 'direction' your travelling. Eg, if you're heading to a higher note you should use 'sharp' and if you're heading to a lower note you should use 'flat'.
Bb is a black key on the piano. Another name for Bb is A#, which has the same note pitch / sound, which means that the two note names are enharmonic to each other. It is called flat because it is 1 half-tone(s) / semitone(s) down from the white note after which is is named - note B. The next note up from Bb is B.
Why Is There No B# and E# On Instruments? The simplest answer is because these instruments were designed keeping in mind the theories of Western music, where there isn't much room for these notes. What is this? There are 12 notes in each octave which occupy different frequencies.
So, you may be wondering, if there is no B sharp, then why do you see it in music sometimes? Well, the truth is that there is such a thing as a B# and an E#, it's just that they are the same notes as C and F.
Simply put, it's too complex for practical use, and there's an easier way to express it: with the key of A♭ major (its enharmonic equivalent). Key signatures contain a maximum of seven singular sharps or flats, which we see in the keys C-sharp major and C-flat major, respectively.
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C-sharp major.
Relative key | A-sharp minor |
Parallel key | C-sharp minor |
Dominant key | G-sharp major (theoretical) →enharmonic A-flat major |
Subdominant | F-sharp major |
Component pitches |
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Why is F-sharp in G Major?
We can fit three octaves of G Major within the paired staff lines. Every time a note appears on the F lines, the sharp (#) symbol is put before it as an accidental, to show that it is really F#. Because F always means F# in the G Major scale, it is inconvenient to do this every time the note is used.
The symbol for sharp/diesis is an adaptation of the symbol for natural (the diesis and natural symbols were not used consistently for a long time since a diesis sometimes meant the cancellation of a flat). In English, the concept of "sharp" is also not that distant from durum/quadratum or hard/square.

When properly writing scales, the same letter is never used twice. For example, in the scale of C# Mixolydian, the scale is properly written with an E# and F#. For this reason, the “F” note is known as E#. The same is true in F# Major and F# Harmonic Minor, which both have a major 7th scale degree, known as E#.
You will feel a slight burning sensation but the heat is actually quite comfortable. If you scratch your belly, it feels itchy too, which is why I think it's working.
The first sharp key signature is the key of G, or its relative minor, which is E minor (Em). 1. These keys have a single sharp note: F#. The other six pitches are natural.
Another name for Bb is A#, which has the same note pitch / sound, which means that the two note names are enharmonic to each other. It is called flat because it is 1 half-tone(s) / semitone(s) down from the white note after which is is named - note B.
And in the mid 15th century we decided that if you could lower a note with a flat, you could also raise a note with a sharp, so we invented that. The piano wasn't created until another 300 years later, so it's always had the five black key arrangement.
C would be a diminished fourth above G# and would have different musical implications. Since there's no black key between B and C you'll be playing that B# on the same piano key used for C, but that's part of the compromise that makes the piano workable.
Fb is a white key on the piano. Another name for Fb is E, which has the same note pitch / sound, which means that the two note names are enharmonic to each other. It is called flat because it is 1 half-tone(s) / semitone(s) down from the white note after which is is named - note F. The next note up from Fb is F.
The next pitch is called the octave because it's the eighth note (just as an octopus has eight legs). More than a thousand years ago the letters of the Roman alphabet were adopted to refer to these, and since there were only seven the letters ran A, B, C, D, E, F, G.
Why are there 12 notes in an octave?
The idea behind twelve is to build up a collection of notes using just one ratio. The advantage to doing so is that it allows a uniformity that makes modulating between keys possible.
The distance from B to C is a half step because no other notes fall between them. The distance from A to B, however, is a whole step because it consists of two half steps.
Between D and E is a half-tone that can be called D sharp or E flat. These two notes are acoustically the same. Theoretically, though, they do not appear in the same key signature and are not the same note. Sound is subjective while at the same time it is also objective.
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G-sharp major.
Parallel key | G-sharp minor |
Dominant key | D-sharp major (theoretical) enharmonic: E-flat major |
Subdominant | C-sharp major enharmonic: D-flat major |
Component pitches |
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C-flat major (or the key of C-flat) is a major scale based on C♭, consisting of the pitches C♭, D♭, E♭, F♭, G♭, A♭, and B♭.