sharpness

(noun)

the fineness of the point a pointed object

Related Terms

Examples of sharpness in the following topics:

  • Key Signatures

    • The first sharp in a key signature is always F sharp; the second sharp in a key signature is always (a perfect fifth away) C sharp; the third is always G sharp, and so on, all the way to B sharp.
    • Figure 4.58 shows that D major has 2 sharps; Figure 4.60 shows that they are F sharp and C sharp.
    • After D major, name the next four sharp keys, and name the sharp that is added with each key.
    • E minor is the first sharp minor key; the first sharp added in both major and minor keys is always F sharp.
    • Name the next three sharp minor keys, and the sharp that is added in each key.

  • Key Signature

    • For example, if a key (G major or E minor) has only one sharp, it will be F sharp, so F sharp is always the first sharp listed in a sharp key signature.
    • The keys that have two sharps (D major and B minor) have F sharp and C sharp, so C sharp is always the second sharp in a key signature, and so on.
    • The order of sharps is: F sharp, C sharp, G sharp, D sharp, A sharp, E sharp, B sharp.
    • If the key contains sharps, the name of the key is one half step higher than the last sharp in the key signature.
    • In sharp keys, the note that names the key is one half step above the final sharp.

  • Pitch: Sharp, Flat, and Natural Notes

    • If only a few of the C's are going to be sharp, then those C's are marked individually with a sharp sign right in front of them.
    • A note can also be double sharp or double flat.
    • G sharp and A flat sound the same.
    • E sharp and F natural sound the same.
    • When a sharp sign appears in the C space in the key signature, all C's are sharp unless marked as accidentals.

  • Complements

    • For example, the complement of the seven-note C major scale is the five-note pentatonic scale: F-sharp, G-sharp, A-sharp, C-sharp, and D-sharp.

  • Altering Notes and Chords

    • The alteration - for example "flat five" or "sharp nine" - is listed in the chord symbol.
    • Plus/minus or sharp/flat symbols may appear before or after the note number.
    • When sharps and flats are used, remember that the alteration is always from the scale of the chord root, not from the key signature.

  • Solutions to Chapter 4 Exercises

    • Notice that although they look completely different, the scales of F sharp major and G flat major (numbers 5 and 6) sound exactly the same when played, on a piano as shown in Figure 4.21, or on any other instrument using equal temperament tuning.
    • For example, the B flat could be written as an A sharp.
    • Using this figure of a keyboard, or the fingerings from your own instrument, notice that the notes for the F sharp major scale and the G flat major scale in Figure 4.20, although spelled differently, will sound the same.

  • Enharmonic Spelling

    • In common notation, any note can be sharp, flat, or natural.
    • Any note can be flat or sharp, so you can have, for example, an E sharp.
    • Looking at the keyboard and remembering that the definition of sharp is "one half step higher than natural", you can see that an E sharp must sound the same as an F natural.
    • Why would you choose to call the note E sharp instead of F natural?
    • A double sharp is two half steps (one whole step) higher than the natural note.

  • Related Keys

    • The keys that are most distant from C major, with six sharps or six flats, are on the opposite side of the circle.
    • If you go up a perfect fifth (clockwise in the circle), you get the key that has one more sharp or one less flat; if you go down a perfect fifth (counterclockwise), you get the key that has one more flat or one less sharp.
    • The key of D major has two sharps.
    • Using the circle of fifths, we find that the most closely related major keys (one in each direction) are G major, with only one sharp, and A major, with three sharps.
    • The relative minors of all of these keys (B minor, E minor, and F sharp minor) are also closely related to D major.

  • Modal Jazz and Folk Music

    • List the flats and sharps you would use if this were a major scale rather than a mode.
    • A major has three sharps: F sharp, C sharp and G sharp.
    • Adding a G sharp does raise the fourth degree of the scale by one half step, just as predicted in step 2.

  • Pitch (Class)

    • A-flat—as lowered scale degree 6—leads to G, but G-sharp—as raised scale degree 5—leadsasdf a dsf asd to A.
    • In the key of C major, A-flat and G-sharp are not equivalent, though in isolation they sound the same.
    • Spelling often indicates tendency: A-flat fallsto G and G-sharp rises to A.
    • A-flat and G-sharp, therefore, can be treated as representations of the same thing.
    • And so on: C = 0, C-sharp = 1, D = 2, D-sharp = 3, E = 4, F = 5, F-sharp = 6, G = 7, G-sharp = 8, A = 9, B-flat = 10 (T), and B = 1 1 (E).