Natural sign

Back to the basic pitch

On the page Notation symbols it says: the natural sign cancels a preceding sharp or flat and puts the note back to its original pitch. It acts for the rest of the bar. In the next bar the key signature applies again, so the natural sign does not act beyond the barline. The form today is, according to the page, a direct development of the medieval “b quadratum”, the square b, which marked the higher of the two b notes.

The page Reading music sums up the three signs: a sharp raises a note by a semitone, a flat lowers it, the natural cancels both.

Examples in the score

Piano

• Menuett B-Dur BWV Anh. 118, from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach · piano · 1 page

  Two flats in the key signature. In the second part there are natural signs before E: the E♭ of the key signature is cancelled for one bar.

• Menuett g-Moll BWV Anh. 115, from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach · piano · 1 page

  In bar 29 there is a natural sign before E, followed by F♯: the raised sixth and seventh degree in G minor. In the left hand too there are natural signs before E. The PDF notes the attribution to Christian Petzold.

Guitar

• Etüde Nr. 7 Matteo Carcassi, op. 60 No. 7 · guitar · 2 pages

  In the section from bar 9 there is a bracketed natural sign before F.

Common mistakes

• Carrying the sign across the barline: It applies until the barline, after that the key signature applies again.
• Confusing natural sign and key signature: A natural sign cancels only for one bar, the key signature applies to the whole piece.
• Reading the sign as a “sharp”: The natural sign has an angular, square look and does not alter the note but puts it back.