In music, flat means lower in pitch. The flat symbol, , indicates that the note to which it is applied is played one chromatic semitone lower. The opposite of flat is sharp, indicating a raising of pitch.
The flat symbol () appears in to indicate which notes are flat throughout a section of music, and also in front of individual notes as an accidental, indicating that the note is flat until the next bar line.
Pitch change
The symbol is a stylised lowercase
b, derived from Italian
be molle for "soft B" and German
blatt for "planar, dull". It indicates that the
musical note to which it is applied is played one chromatic semitone lower. In the standard modern tuning system, 12-tone equal temperament, this corresponds to 100 cents.
In older tuning systems (from the 16th and 17th century), and in modern microtonal tunings, the difference in pitch indicated by a sharp or flat is normally smaller than the standard semitone. For example, in the old quarter-comma meantone system a flat lowers a note's pitch by and in just intonation a flat commonly lowers a note's pitch by 70.57 cents. In Pythagorean tuning a flat lowers the pitch by 113.7 cents, and in , a flat may be different sizes. Intricate systems of microtuning may replace the standard flat or sharp with different symbols for raising and lowering pitch. In 53 equal temperament tuning sharps and flats have two or three different sub-levels, and notation for flattening notes varies, but usually involves several different symbols; one of the sets of flat symbols is (67.9 cents), (45.3 cents), and (22.6 cents), used both separately and in combinations.
Related symbols
A
double flat () lowers a note by two chromatic semitones (a whole step in 12-tone equal temperament).
- { \omit Score.TimeSignature \relative c'' { beses1 } }
A
quarter-tone flat,
half flat or
demiflat indicates the use of
; it may be marked with various symbols including a flat with a slash (), a flat with a 4 (), or a (). A
three-quarter-tone flat,
flat and a half or
sesquiflat is represented by a demiflat and a whole flat (). The symbols , , , among others, represent
comma flat or eighth-tone flat.
- { \omit Score.TimeSignature \relative c'' { ceh1 deseh } }
A
triple flat () is very rare. As expected, it lowers a note by three chromatic semitones (a whole tone and semitone in 12-tone equal temperament).
(For example, B is
enharmonic with A.)
- {
\omit Score.TimeSignature \relative c'' {
\tweak Accidental.stencil #ly:text-interface::print \tweak Accidental.text \markup { \concat { \flat \doubleflat }}beses1
} }
While this system allows for higher multiples of flats, there are only a few examples of triple flats in the literature. However, quadruple flats or beyond may be required in some non-standard tuning systems such as 53 equal temperament. A quadruple flat would be indicated by the symbol .
- {
\omit Score.TimeSignature \relative c'' {
\tweak Accidental.stencil #ly:text-interface::print \tweak Accidental.text \markup { \concat { \doubleflat \doubleflat }}beses1
} }
Flats in key signatures
|
| | in key signatures |
| | { class="wikitable"
|
|
| A minor |
| D minor |
| B-flat major | B♭, E♭ | G minor |
| E-flat major | B♭, E♭, A♭ | C minor |
| A-flat major | B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭ | F minor |
| D-flat major | B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭ | B-flat minor |
| G-flat major | B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭, C♭* | E-flat minor |
| C-flat major | B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭, C♭*, F♭* | A-flat minor |
|-
|
|
- The last two rows are shaded, indicating keys that are generally avoided, in
part because they use inconvenient enharmonic notes, denoted with "*".
- In the standard tuning system of 12 equal temperament, the key of C-flat major, with 7 flats is enharmonically equivalent with B major, which only requires 5 sharps.
|
|}
The order of flats in key signatures is
- B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭, C♭, F♭
The corresponding order of keys also follows the circle of fifths sequence:
- F, B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭, C♭
Starting with no flats or sharps (C major), adding the first flat (B♭) indicates
F major; adding the next (E♭) indicates B♭ major, and so on, backwards through the circle of fifths.
Some keys (such as C♭ major with seven flats) may be written as an enharmonically equivalent key (B major with five sharps in this case). In rare cases the flat keys may be extended further:
- F♭ → B → E → A → D → G → C
requiring double flats in the key signature. These are generally avoided as impractical, and the simpler enharmonic key signature is used instead. This principle applies similarly to the sharp keys.
The staff below shows a key signature with three flats (E major or its Relative key C minor), followed by a note with a flat preceding it: The flat symbol placed on the note indicates that it is a D♭.
- { \omit Score.TimeSignature \relative c'' { \key es \major des1 } }
In standard 12 tone equal temperament tuning, lowering a note's pitch by a semitone results in a note that is Enharmonic to the adjacent named note. In this system, B and A are considered to be equivalent. In other, non-standard , however, this is not the case.
Accidentals
Accidentals are placed to the left of the note head.
{ \omit Score.TimeSignature \relative c'' { bes1 } }
They apply to the note on which they are placed and to subsequent similar notes in the same measure and octave. In modern notation they do not apply to notes in other octaves, but this was not always the convention. To cancel an accidental later in the same measure and octave, another accidental such as a natural (♮) or a sharp (♯) may be used.
{ \omit Score.TimeSignature \key c \major \time 4/4 bes'2 b' bes'! bis'}
Other notation and usage
-
Historically, raising a double flat to a single flat could be notated using a natural sign and a flat sign (♮♭) or vice-versa (♭♮). Modern notation often simply uses a single flat. The combination ♮♭ can be used when changing a sharp to a flat.
-
:{
\omit Score.TimeSignature \relative c'' { beses2 bes2 \accidentalStyle modern beses2 bes2
} }
-
In environments where the symbol is not supported, or in specific text notation, a double flat can be written with two single flat signs (♭♭), two lower-case b's (bb), etc. Likewise, a triple flat can also be written as ♭♭♭, etc.
-
In environments where the or 𝄳 symbol is not supported, or in specific text notation, a half flat can be written as a lower-case d. Likewise, a flat and a half can be written as d♭ or db.
-
To allow extended just intonation, composer Ben Johnston uses a flat as an accidental to indicate a note is lowered 70.6 cents.
Unicode
The
Unicode character ♭ (U+266D) can be found in the block Miscellaneous Symbols; its
HTML entity is Other assigned flat signs can be found in the Musical Symbols block and are as follows:
Footnotes
See also
External links
