Flat (music)

In music, flat (Italian bemolle for "soft B") means "lower in pitch". Flat is the opposite of sharp, which is a raising of pitch by the same amount (in Equal Temperament – by a near-equal amount in other temperaments). In musical notation, flat means "lower in pitch by one semitone (half step)". It is notated using the symbol ♭ preceding a note mark on the staff, or following a note written as a letter.[1][2] The symbol is derived from a stylised lowercase 'b', possibly derived from German blatt ("planar").

When discussing intonation, flat can be used instead as an adjective, to mean "slightly lower in pitch" (by some unspecified amount). If two simultaneous notes are slightly out-of-tune, the lower-pitched one is "flat", assuming the higher one is properly pitched, and regardless of proper pitch, the lower-pitch is "flat" with respect to the slightly higher one. Furthermore, the verb flatten means to lower the pitch of a note, typically by an amount less than a semitone.

Examples and exceptions

For example, in the two bars below, the key signature shows three flats, which indicates either E♭ major or C minor, and the whole note, D♭, is flattened by a single preceding accidental.

{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c'' { \clef treble \key es \major \time 4/4 des1 } }

In conventional twelve-tone equal temperament, D♭ for instance is enharmonically equivalent to C♯, and G♭ is equivalent to F♯. In any other tuning system, such enharmonic equivalences in general do not exist. To allow extended just intonation, composer Ben Johnston uses a sharp as an accidental to indicate a note is raised 70.6 cents (ratio 25:24), and a flat to indicate a note is lowered 70.6 cents.[3]

Key signatures

Flats are used in the key signatures of

  1. F major / D minor (B♭)
  2. B♭ major / G minor (adds E♭)
  3. E♭ major / C minor (adds A♭)
  4. A♭ major / F minor (adds D♭)
  5. D♭ major / B♭ minor (adds G♭)
  6. G♭ major / E♭ minor (adds C♭)
  7. C♭ major / A♭ minor (adds F♭)

The order of flats in the key signatures of music notation, following the circle of fifths, is B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭, C♭, and F♭ (mnemonics for which include Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles' Father and Before Eating A Doughnut Get Coffee First). Some people choose to remember the order of flats simply with BEAD GCF (read: bead gee see eff)

Double flats also exist, which look like double flat (similar to two flats, ♭♭) and lower a note by two semitones, or a whole step. Historically, in order to raise a double flat to a single flat, it was required to use the notation ♮♭. In modern scores it is acceptable to simply denote this with a regular single flat ♭.

{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c'' { \clef treble \time 4/4 beses2 bes2 \accidentalStyle modern beses2 bes2 } }
(Older Practice / Modern Practice)

A quarter-tone flat, half flat, or demiflat indicating the use of quarter tones, may be marked with various symbols including a flat with a slash (flat stroke) or a reversed flat sign (half flat). A three-quarter-tone flat, flat and a half or sesquiflat, is represented by a demiflat and a regular flat (three quarter flat).

{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c'' { \clef treble \time 4/4 ceh1 deseh } }

Although very uncommon, a triple flat (triple flat) can sometimes be found.[4] It lowers a note three semitones, or a whole tone and a semitone.[lower-alpha 1]

{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c'' { \clef treble \time 1/1 \hide Staff.TimeSignature \override Accidental.stencil = #ly:text-interface::print \once \override Accidental.text = \markup { \concat { \flat \doubleflat}}beses1 } }

Unicode

The Unicode character ♭ (U+266D) can be found in the block Miscellaneous Symbols; its HTML entity is ♭. Other assigned flat signs are as follows:

  • U+1D12B 𝄫 MUSICAL SYMBOL DOUBLE FLAT
  • U+1D133 𝄳 MUSICAL SYMBOL QUARTER TONE FLAT

See also

Notes
  1. Theoretically, the same principle could be applied when canceling the symbol of a triple flat or beyond within the same bar.[5]

References
  1. Benward, Bruce; Saker, Marilyn (2003). Music in Theory and Practice. Vol. 1 (7th ed.). McGraw-Hill. p. 6. Flat (♭) — lowers the pitch a half step.
  2. "Flat". Glossary. Naxos Records. Archived from the original on 2021-07-15.
  3. Fonville, J. (Summer 1991). "Ben Johnston's Extended Just Intonation - a guide for interpreters". Perspectives of New Music. 29 (2): 106–137, quote p. 109. ... the 25/24 ratio is the sharp (♯) ratio ... this raises a note approximately 70.6 cents.
  4. Byrd, Donald (October 2018). "Extremes of conventional music notation". Bloomington, IN: Indiana University.
  5. Eric, Wen (July 2012). "E-quadruple flat: Tovey's Whimsy". gmth.de.
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