Thank you very much - didn't know that.
So only later the x was replaced by an underscore or do you still use the x in US accordion scores?
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Help! What does this symbol mean?
- Thread starter Rodney
- Start date
So only later the x was replaced by an underscore or do you still use the x in US accordion scores?
temryd
Member
Both....I don't really have much concern about either one....however when I compose a score of some sort (very infrequently) using some of the software programs, i typically like to use the "x" because I'm used to it...and it is not confused with anything else.
The underline was in the notation standard by 1938.
Rodney
Was a clarinetist
Thank you Glug, it’s great to have such clarity available.
When beside the note, the "X" stands for a "double sharp". I recalled that from looooooooong ago, and had to make sure. Instead of going up a 1/2 tone it is a whole tone. The double flat was 2 flat symbols side-by-side. I always wondered why not just write the note in the proper location instead using double-sharps or double-flats... lol
I found about 200 other sites that repeated the same thing. I have an old Solffage book that used it too and referred to it as such.
I found about 200 other sites that repeated the same thing. I have an old Solffage book that used it too and referred to it as such.
Ed S
Member
Jerry,
The question was about the intended meaning of "x" in the example, not standard usage. The fact that there is a natural accidental on one of the example notes indicates (to me, at least) that it can't be meant to mean a double-sharp. The particular notes involved make its use to indicate counter-bass plausible, and the Hohner example provided by temryd, above, shows the same usage - so it's not a one-off.
micahcowan
Active member
To chase this digression a bit past what's reasonable, in order to answer a commonly-asked question: one typical reason why a double-sharp or double-flat might be used, instead of "writing the note in the proper location", is that it makes better sense from a "music theory" sense (the "math-y" side of music), in the context of the given key. Maybe for a brief moment a piece flirts with the key of, say, G♯ major, which has more sharps than notes in the key ("8" sharps, with the "8th" going to F♯, which... was already sharped). So you get an F𝄪 - an "F double-sharp". Now you could use a G natural instead, and you might imagine that leads to easier readability... but that's debatable given that we're momentarily in G♯, and are very likely to be playing that note too. So if both are occurring multiple times in a single bar, you end up naturalizing and re-sharping that poor G several times, versus double-sharping an F once (most likely the G will already be sharped in the key signature, in this scenario). Then you can write the F and the G as many more times as you want in that bar, without having to add accidentals every time.
But even when it only occurs once, the double-sharp may be selected simply because it's more "correct" from a music theory POV.
An astute reader might wonder what the hell we're doing in "G♯ major" in the first place, or anywhere near it, when there's a perfectly good A♭ to be had. But suffice to say there are "journeys" you can take from one key to another, where picking a crap key like G♯ momentarily is pretty much the best of an array of less-than-fantastic choices.
Alternatively, sometimes the double-sharp is just convenient, simply for an "avoiding constant accidentals" scenario like the one above, even when it's theoretically "wrong" for the given key.
"music theory" sounds like "arbitrary rule by bean counters". Let me jump to the defense of poor maligned theory here: this makes for more readable music. When playing a chord or a scale off the sheet, you don't see and play every individual note of the chord in separation but recognize patterns. A seventh chord has a particular shape, and if you use accidentals to make sure that the position of each note stays at a visual location corresponding to its distance from the root note, the shape remains recognisable. While of course this is particularly helpful to CBA players where a certain kind of chord corresponds to certain button pattern, advanced piano players also have "hardwired" chord shapes and scales, just more of them. And of course it also helps for spontaneously mapping a piano score to Stradella bass (some music is written in a style where this works out).
Ed S
Member
Sounds like you've been around this block a few times... can you think of any context in which putting both a double-sharp and a natural accidental on the same note would make sense - or even be comprehensible?
micahcowan
Active member
Only if it had been "triple-sharped", earlier in the measure, and I can only really think of very extremely contrived situations for that. I'm sure it exists out there somewhere, though! (Probably, in a very contrived situation, hah).
