Lowering (flattening)

What it means

Lowering, or flattening, means bringing a note down by a semitone or, with a double flat, by two semitones. E becomes E-flat and A becomes A-flat. In German the naming follows a fixed rule: the ending “-es” or “-s” is added to the note name, and “-eses” or “-ses” for a double lowering. Special cases are H, which is lowered to B, and the forms “es” and “as” in place of “ees” and “aes.”

In the notation

The lowering is shown by the flat sign (♭) placed directly before the note, or by the double flat (𝄫). As an accidental it holds for that pitch until the end of the bar; in the key signature at the start of the staff it applies to all notes of that name in every octave.

Musical use

Lowered notes define the flat keys, in which certain degrees are permanently lowered. They also appear as deliberate colorings, such as the lowered second degree of the Neapolitan sixth chord or the lowered fifth of altered chords. A lowered note is normally continued downward.

Lowering should be distinguished from raising, its counterpart with the sharp sign, and from the natural sign, which returns the note to its original degree. On tempered instruments a lowered note and the corresponding raised one sound the same, such as E-flat and D-sharp, but they differ in spelling and harmonic interpretation.

Performance practice

Remember that an accidental within a bar applies to all following notes of the same pitch up to the barline. On string instruments and in singing, a lowered note is often tuned slightly lower so that, as a downward-pointing note, it leads clearly to its target.