Sharpening (raising)

A note can be changed in pitch without leaving its place on the staff. Accidentals serve for that. Raising is the lifting: a sharp before the note lifts it by a semitone, a double sharp by two. In the name it shows as the added sign: C becomes C♯, F becomes F♯, C♯ becomes C double sharp.

Raising before the note and in the key signature

Raisings appear in two places: as a single sign before a note and as a key signature at the start of the line. In the first case the sign holds until the barline and for that pitch, in the second for the whole piece. The natural sign takes back a raising: a sign before the note completely, a key signature only for that pitch until the barline. The relation between the two forms is explained by the term accidental.

Where you need raisings

Raisings arise in two ways: through the key a piece is in, and through changes to the note collection, such as the leading tone in minor. Sharp keys such as G major or D major carry sharps from the start. In minor keys the raising of the seventh degree is added as an accidental in the bar, as in the second example above. If you hear a melody in minor that presses upwards to the tonic, you hear such a raised note.