Accidentals

Accidentals are small changes to the normal pitch of a note
The normal pitch will be the one given by the key signature
An accidental is placed immediately in front of the note, occupying the same space or line as the note
It has effect for that note, and for any other occurrences of the same note at the same pitch in the same bar
If a note which has an accidental applying to it is tied across a bar line, the note to which it is tied is the next bar does not need another accidental written, it applies anyway.
An accidental on one note does not apply to the same note in another octave, or on another stave, but it does (strictly speaking) apply to the same note in the same bar in a different part. However, for practical purposes, an accidental is normally repeated if it is in a different part.
Accidentals are cancelled within a bar by using another accidental to indicate the pitch required. So if a note is sharpened by the key signature and appears twice in a bar, and the first is made a natural by an accidental, the second must be preceded by a sharp sign if it is to be at the pitch indicated by the key signature.
The signs used for accidentals come from altered forms of letter - see History of notation.

All the accidentals are shown in the following table:

Name	Effect	Pic.
Sharp	Raises the pitch by one semitone
Flat	Lowers the pitch by one semitone
Double sharp	Raises the pitch by two semitones
Double flat	Lowers the pitch by two semitones
Natural	Cancels the effect of one of the above

In the example below, the note marked 1 is a natural because it is tied from a note with an accidental. The notes marked 2 and 3 are flats, because the effect of the naturals in the previous bar is "cancelled" when going over the bar line.
hear it! Example of accidentals

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