Altered Pitches: Sharps

So far we have considered the notes in the Treble and Bass Staffs that would be found on the white keys of a piano. However, often in music it is necessary to be able to notate the notes found on the black keys of a piano. There are three basic symbols used to indicate these notes, the sharp sign, flat sign, and the natural sign.

A Sharp () raises a note one half step. This means that the sharped note is found one key to the right of the original note on the piano. Look at the example below.  On the staff there is a sharp sign written in front of the C. On the piano, this note would be played as the black key to the right of C.

Listen to this example of a C being played, followed by a C# (sharp). The C# sounds higher than the C.