Flats

What is a flat in music?

A flat is a symbol that tells the musician to lower a note by a half step. To find a flatted note, just find the original note and then step down a half step. For example, to find B-flat, first find B. Now, step down a half step by going to the black key directly to the left of the B. This is B-flat!

What are the seven flats in music?

The seven flats in music, written in the order that you would see them in a time signature, are: B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭, C♭, F♭.

While most flats are black piano keys, two flats are white keys. C♭ and F♭ are both white keys because C and F do not have black keys directly to their left, so B becomes C♭ and E becomes F♭.

What is the flat symbol in music​?

The flat symbol in music is derived from a stylised lowercase B. This was originally used to shorten the Italian phrase “be molle” which means to “be soft” and the German word “blatt” which means “dull.” Today’s flat symbol looks like this: ♭.

Some music also includes the double flat symbol. This symbol means to lower a note a whole step, so a B would be an A. This symbol is rare, but does show up in some music such as measure 8 of Chopin's Nocturne in D-flat Major, Op. 27, No. 2. The double flat symbol looks like two flats stuck together.

What is the difference between a sharp and a flat?

A flat lowers the note by a half step, but a sharp raises the note by a half step. 

Can a flat ever land on a white key?

Yes! Since C and F have no black key to their left, B becomes C-flat, and E becomes F-flat.

When reading sheet music, does the flat come before or after the note?

When reading sheet music, the flat will always come before the note, which is the opposite of the written name. In the written name, the flat will always come after the letter name.

Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman. Today we are learning about flats. You can think of flats as the opposite of sharps, which we learned about in a previous lesson. Remember that a sharp raises a note one half step. A flat on the other hand lowers a note by one half step. You can remember it this way: The sharp symbol looks really pokey and sharp. I mean, would you want to touch one of those? And when you get poked with something sharp, you jump up. At least, I do. When you get a flat tire though, your car sinks down. So that's just a little trick to remember. Sharps go up, flats go down. Let's come to the piano to get some more practice with flats. As I said, a flat can lower any note by one half step. For example, let's take this A here. Here's an A, and here is A-flat. We just move that down a half step. Or if I have an E here, can you show me where E-flat would be? It would be right here. If I have an F, where would F-flat be? Since there's no black key immediately to the left, F-flat actually moves right here to E. So F-flat equals E. Now you try a few. Here's a D. Can you point to D-flat? If you're pointing here, you're correct. Here is a G. Can you point to a G-flat? If you're pointing here, you're correct. And here's a C. Can you point to a C-flat? If you're pointing here, you're correct. This is B, or you could also call it C-flat. Now let's try a few where you have to find it without me showing you the original note. Can you point to an E-flat? If you're pointing here, you're correct. Now, can you point to a D-flat? If you're pointing here, you're correct. Now, can you point to an A-flat? If you're pointing here, you're correct. Can you point to a B-flat? If you're pointing here, you're correct. Here's a B, we go down a half step to B-flat. Now, you might have noticed by now that, hey wait a minute, some of these notes like B-flat have another possible name. When we were learning about sharps, we were saying that that same black key was called A-sharp, and you're absolutely right. Any black key actually has two possible names. If we start it on an A and moved up a half step, we'd call that note A-sharp, but if we start on a B and move down a half step, we could call it B-flat. Two names for the same note. That's called an enharmonic name. It means two different names for the same key. Let's try finding some other enharmonics. I'll give you a sharp name, and you try and tell me the flat name. Here's a C-sharp. Can you tell me it's flat name? If you said D-flat, you're correct. C-sharp equals D-flat. They're enharmonic. Here's an F-sharp. Can you tell me it's flat name? If you said G-flat, you're correct. Now, I'll give you a flat name, and you tell me the sharp name. Here's an E-flat. Can you tell me the sharp name? If you said D-sharp, you're correct. Now, let's go for a little hunt for flats and sharps in actual music. I have some kind of advanced music here. Can you point to any flats that you see? If you're pointing here, here, here, he ...