In
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...
, flat (Italian bemolle for "soft B") means "lower in
pitch". Flat is the opposite of
sharp
Sharp or SHARP may refer to:
Acronyms
* SHARP (helmet ratings) (Safety Helmet Assessment and Rating Programme), a British motorcycle helmet safety rating scheme
* Self Help Addiction Recovery Program, a charitable organisation founded in 199 ...
, which is a raising of pitch. In
musical notation
Music notation or musical notation is any system used to visually represent aurally perceived music played with instruments or sung by the human voice through the use of written, printed, or otherwise-produced symbols, including notation f ...
, flat means "lower in pitch by one
semitone (half step)", notated using the symbol which is derived from a stylised lowercase 'b'. For instance, the music below has a key signature with three flats (indicating either
E major
E major (or the key of E) is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor and its parallel minor is E minor. Its enharmonic equiva ...
or
C minor) and the note,
D, has a flat
accidental.
:
Under
twelve-tone equal temperament,
D for instance is
enharmonically equivalent to
C, and
G is equivalent to
F. In any other
tuning system, such enharmonic equivalences in general do not exist. To allow extended
just intonation, composer
Ben Johnston Ben Johnston may refer to:
* Ben Johnston (rugby union) (born 1978), British rugby player
* Ben Johnston (composer) (1926–2019), American contemporary composer of concert music
* Bennett Johnston, Jr. (born 1932), Washington, D.C.-based lobbyist ...
uses a sharp as an accidental to indicate a note is raised 70.6
cents (ratio 25:24), and a flat to indicate a note is lowered 70.6 cents.
In
intonation, flat can also mean "slightly lower in pitch" (by some unspecified amount). If two simultaneous notes are slightly out-of-tune, the lower-pitched one (assuming the higher one is properly pitched) is "flat" with respect to the other. Furthermore, the verb ''flatten'' means to lower the pitch of a note, typically by a
small musical interval.
Key signatures
Flats are used in the
key signatures of
#
F major
F major (or the key of F) is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative minor is D minor and its parallel minor is F minor.
The F major scale is:
:
F major is ...
/
D minor
D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative major is F major and its parallel major is D major.
The D natural minor scale is:
Changes needed ...
(B)
#
B major
B major (or the key of B) is a major scale based on B. The pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A are all part of the B major scale. Its key signature has five sharps. Its relative minor is G-sharp minor, its parallel minor is B minor, and ...
/
G minor (adds E)
#
E major
E major (or the key of E) is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor and its parallel minor is E minor. Its enharmonic equiva ...
/
C minor (adds A)
#
A major
A major (or the key of A) is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative minor is F-sharp minor and its parallel minor is A minor. The key of A major is the only k ...
/
F minor (adds D)
#
D major /
B minor
B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative major is D major and its parallel major is B major.
The B natural minor scale is:
:
Changes n ...
(adds G)
#
G major
G major (or the key of G) is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative minor is E minor and its parallel minor is G minor.
The G major scale is:
Notable com ...
/
E minor (adds C)
#
C major /
A minor
A minor is a minor scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has no flats and no sharps. Its relative major is C major and its parallel major is A major.
The A natural minor scale is:
:
Changes ...
(adds F)
The order of flats in the key signatures of music notation, following the
circle of fifths, is B, E, A, D, G, C and F (
mnemonics for which include Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles' Father ''and'' Before Eating A Doughnut Get Coffee First).
Related symbols
Double flats also exist, which look like (similar to two flats, ) and lower a note by two semitones, or a whole step. Historically, in order to raise a double flat to a single flat, it was required to use the notation . In modern scores it is acceptable to simply denote this with a single flat .
:
A quarter-tone flat, half flat, or demiflat indicating the use of
quarter tone
A quarter tone is a pitch halfway between the usual notes of a chromatic scale or an interval about half as wide (aurally, or logarithmically) as a semitone, which itself is half a whole tone. Quarter tones divide the octave by 50 cents each ...
s, may be marked with various symbols including a flat with a slash () or a reversed flat sign (). A three-quarter-tone flat, flat and a half or sesquiflat, is represented by a demiflat and a regular flat ().
:
Although very uncommon, a triple flat () can sometimes be found.
It lowers a note three
semitones, or a whole tone and a semitone.
Unicode
The
Unicode
Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. The standard, ...
character ♭ (U+266D) can be found in the
block Miscellaneous Symbols; its
HTML entity is
♭. Other assigned flat signs are as follows:
*
*
See also
*
Sharp (music)
*
Electronic tuner
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flat (Music)
Musical notation
Pitch (music)