EASY GUIDE

Tunes falling flat? Then it’s time to sharpen up your knowledge of those mysterious black keys with our in-house theory expert

Dave Clews explores how sharps and flats work

If you’re reading this mag, there’s a fair chance that you’ll have some sort of MIDI or piano keyboard nearby. Take a look at it, and you’ll notice the one thing about its iconic and functional design that’s remained true throughout its centuries-long history: the fact that it’s arranged with white keys at the front, and black keys to the rear.

When first starting out on the keyboard, the white keys are usually the ones we tend to deal with first, with the result that the black keys can sometimes seem a bit intimidating. Without these sharps and flats though, music would be a very bland affair indeed, so what exactly are they, and why are they there?

In Western music, an octave is comprised of 12 distinct notes, all separated in pitch by intervals of one semitone; if you play these notes one after the other in sequence, you get what’s known as a chromatic scale. The reason for the distinction between the white and black notes on the piano keyboard is to do with the C major scale. The white notes, known as ‘naturals’, are the seven notes that belong to the C major scale, namely C, D, E, F, G A and B. The black notes, known as ‘accidentals’, represent all the other notes that are not present in the C

C#, D#, F#, G# A# major scale – in other words, and –

Db, Eb, Gb, Ab Bb. confusingly, also known as and Want to know more? Read on…