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Topic: Accidentals! (Read 1413 times)

ojkojbgoj

PS Gold Member
Newbie
Posts: 17

Accidentals!

on: October 04, 2010, 05:23:45 PM

Why are sharps, flats, naturals etc known as accidentals?

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stevebob

PS Silver Member
Sr. Member
Posts: 1133

Re: Accidentals!

Reply #1 on: October 04, 2010, 06:35:44 PM

An “accident” is an unexpected event or occurrence. The presence of a musical note that doesn’t pertain to the current key signature could be described as unexpected, so calling such a note an accidental appears to derive from the literal meaning of “accident.”

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