ACCIDENTAL

Accidental

In music, an accidental is a note whose pitch is not a member of a scale or mode indicated by the most recently applied key signature. In musical notation, the sharp, flat, and natural symbols are used to mark such notes, and those symbols may themselves be called accidentals. In the measure in which it appears, an accidental sign raises or lowers the following notes from their normal pitch, overriding sharps or flats in the key signature. A note is usually raised or lowered by a semitone, although microtonal music may use "fractional" accidental signs. One occasionally sees double sharps or flats, which raise or lower the indicated note by a whole tone.

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accidental

Noun

  1. A property which is not essential; a nonessential; anything happening accidentally.
  2. Those fortuitous effects produced by luminous rays falling on certain objects so that some parts stand forth in abnormal brightness and other parts are cast into a deep shadow.
  3. A sharp, flat, or natural, occurring not at the commencement of a piece of music as the signature, but before a particular note.

Adjective

  1. Happening by chance, or unexpectedly; taking place not according to the usual course of things; casual; fortuitous
    an accidental visit
  2. Nonessential; not necessary belonging; incidental
    are accidental to a play
  3. Foreign to the key signature or a proper harmony.
  4. Being a double point with two distinct tangent planes in 4-dimensional projective space.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: accidental
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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