O.K., yeah I did learn musical notation at one time- but only the very basics. And it’s been about 20 years since I’ve learned any of it. I can read music- but I can’t sight read in time, I have to learn it clunkily then play it after learning it.
For the first time in my musical life I have to write out a melody for another singer.
Singer-songwriters can go a long way without ever putting a black dot on a staff, but I’m recently transitioning away from the singer-songwriter thing to a songwriter-project leader kind of a thing. The singer that I’m working with has requested that I write out the melody to make the songs easier to learn.
I expect to do fairly well, some of the timing of individual notes may be tricky for me- but other than that I have one major question regarding “Naturals”.
For ease of discussion, the song in question is in the key of A.
I know to note down the key at the opening of the song. I know that once I’ve noted the sharps ahead of the song opening that I do not then have to continually note #'s throughout the the song: Every note made on the C space will be read as a C#, every note made on the F line will be read as F#.
The tricky thing is that this song frequently uses both the major 7 as well as the “other” 7. The opening of the song notes G# but the note written on the G line will sometimes be a G# and sometimes be a natural.
So, first showing of G natural will be noted with the natural sign.
Then . . . every G thereafter is interpreted as natural?
Add a # to the next G to be sharp then every G thereafter is interpreted as sharp?
Or
Do I note G as natural everytime it is supposed to be natural and all other Gs are automatically interpreted as being sharp?
Not quite. Add a Natural to a G and it’s a G Natural. Then, every G thereafter in the same measure is a G Natural. Every G after the end of the measure is a G# again, unless another Natural sign is introduced.
The rule for accidentals is very simple: In your case, in each measure, your G will be sharp by default. Whenever you mark a G as natural, every G afterwards, in that measure, will be interpreted as natural. Everything “resets” at the end of the measure: Even if you don’t indicate anything explicitly, from the next measure on, any unmarked G you find should be interpreted as sharp again.
Same if you have no signature at the beginning (i.e., your song is in the key of C) and mark some note a sharp: the effect is limited to the measure where the sharp appears.
Example: key of C
4/4 G C E G | G# A F D | E G G# A | B G C C ||
In this little melody, the first and second Gs (in the first measure) are natural; the G in he second measure is sharp; in the third measure, the “sharpening” effect from the second measure is already over – that’s why the first G in the third measure is natural, and the second one has to be marked again as sharp to indicate that it is, well, sharp… In the fourth and last measure, again, the effect of the accidental is over, so the G there is read as natural.
As an addendum: while after the bar line the G goes back to it’s default state (i.e. sharp), if there have been G-naturals in the previous bar it is sometimes helpful to write a reminder sharp on the first G-sharp after the G-naturals. This is a “courtesy” accidental. It’s helpful also to put it in parentheses so people will understand that it’s just a reminder and not interpret it as something complicated. Here’s an example.
effect from the second measure is already over – that’s why the first G in the third measure is natural, and the second one has to be marked again as sharp to indicate that it is, well, sharp… In the fourth and last measure, again, the effect of the accidental is over, so the G there is read as natural.