In modern Western music notation, a natural (♮) is a musical symbol that cancels a previous sharp or flat on a note in the written music. The sharp or flat may be from a key signature or an accidental. The natural indicates that the note is at its unaltered pitch.[1]
| Mark: | ♮|unicode=U+266E (HTML : ♮)|different from=}} ExamplesThe natural symbol can be used as an accidental to cancel sharps or flats on an individual note. It may also be shown in a key signature to indicate that sharps or flats in a previous key signature are cancelled. A note is referred to as 'natural' when the letter-name note (A, B, C, D, E, F, or G) is not modified by flats or sharps from a key signature or an accidental. These notes correspond to the white keys on the keyboard of a piano or organ. The keys of A minor or C major and their scales contain all natural notes, whereas other scales and keys have at least one sharp or flat. F, C, E, B, and most notes inflected by double-flats and double-sharps correspond in pitch with natural notes but are regarded as enharmonic equivalents of the natural note. The natural sign is derived from a square b used to denote B in medieval music (in contrast with the round b denoting B, which became the flat symbol). The Unicode character MUSIC NATURAL SIGN '♮' (U+266E) should display as a natural sign. Its HTML entity is . NotationIn musical notation, a natural sign cancels a flat or sharp from either a preceding note or from the key signature. Examples: Sometimes these cancelling naturals at a key change are omitted, although they must be shown to indicate a new key with no flats or sharps (C major or A minor). Like all accidental markings, the natural symbol is written to the left of the note head and applies to subsequent notes of the same pitch through the remainder of the measure. Canceling the previous natural sign on a note of the same pitch is done by adding a new accidental, e.g. a flat (♭) accidental (see below). If a key change indicates flats or sharps of a key signature changing to double flats or double sharps, naturals are sometimes used to cancel the single flats or sharps. Double naturalA double natural is a symbol that has two naturals (♮♮). It may be used to cancel a double flat or double sharp, but in modern notation a single natural sign (♮) is acceptable.[2] Similarly, a simple ♭ or ♯ without a natural sign can be used to indicate that a double flat or double sharp has been changed to a single flat or sharp, but older notation may use ♮♭, ♭♮, ♮♯, or ♯♮ instead.
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