Theory & Impro Accidentals in C.

[old git]

In the key of C major, should accidentals be shewn, nice old fashioned spelling, as sharps, flats or is it optional?

Would the fact that it is the low A# aka Bb on a tenor saxophone score matter? Know I'd prefer the more familiar Bb.

 

[ArtyLady]

Hmmm....I don't know regarding accidentals in C - but I do know that if you are in a # or a b key then you would have everything as # or b not a mixture 🙂 sorry that wasn't much help was it!

 

[Justin Chune]

I seem to remember a rule about sharps ascending, and flats descending. The rule might relate to something else of course.

Jim.

 

[U CAN CALL ME AL]

Found on the net;-

As a general rule, an accidental that leads up to a natural note is written as a sharp note-and an accidental that leads down to a natural note is written as a fiat note.

C major may/should then contain both, as Jim says!

 

[old git]

Many thanks. As luck has it, did it right. Well there has to be an exception to the rule. ;}

 

[Pete Thomas]

Also very often it is a blue note. In which case the ascending/descending rule may not apply. So in C, it's more likely to be Bb than A#.

Apert from the the ascending/descending works very well in chromatic passages.

But often it will be to do with the functional harmony, so if the chord is an E chord in C (as you get with bar two of Sitting on the Dock of the Bay), a note would be G# not Ab as it is the 3rd note of an E major chord (E F# G#, not E F# Ab)

 

[old git]

Thanks Pete, never realised that and now feel as stupid as I did before. 🙁

However as it it a Bb7, Bb would seem best.
Thanks again everyone.