Re: accidentals

Howard Peirce ( howard.peirce@sdrc.com )
Fri, 03 Apr 1998 12:49:13 -0500

Jeff Kunce wrote:
>
> Unless a note on that pitch is "tied" (held over) into the next measure. As
> far as I know, the accidental will continue for the duration of that note.
> [correct me if I'm wrong]
>
You're right, but if the same note appears later in that measure, it
reverts to the note in the key.

The important thing is that these are *guidelines*, not rules. I think
the best practice is to include as many accidentals as you need to to
ensure that people can read it down quickly and easily, but not so many
that the chart gets cluttered up.

The only thing clear about the rules for accidentals is that in spite of
all the years of training and playing represented on this list, we're
still confused. When notating, use your experience as a guide, and put
the reading musician's needs first, ahead of slavish devotion to the
rules.

HP