This "Ask Edly" article first appeared in GuitarSam eZine, Vol. 20 [05 Jun 2000] http://www.guitarsam.com

Dear Edly,
I'm having trouble reading/playing a piece that's way over my head. In Beethoven's Sonata in C# minor, in the 19th measure of the 1st movement, there's a G that's marked G#. Since G is already sharp in this key, do I actually play a G## (an A)?

Later, in the 27th measure, there's a double sharp on an F. Since F is already sharp in this key, does that make it an F### (a G#)?

Still later, in the 35th measure, there's an F marked with a # AND a natural??!! What does that mean on top of the fact that the F should ALREADY be sharp!?!?!

Maybe I should go back to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".....

Now here's a question that involves not only music theory, but the theory of sound itself. I've always wondered why there's a half-step between B and C and E and F. Notes an octave apart vibrate at speeds in intervals of 2X. Do notes in a major scale have regularly spaced vibration speeds? And do the half-steps correspond to those regular spacings? If the vibrations of the notes from one half-step to the next are not the same as the differences between two notes that are a whole step apart, why does it sound "right" when you play a scale? I know that question is a little "out there", but I once heard an explanation of music and musical instruments explained in mathematical terms, and I almost understood it.

Thanks for your time and help,
Lee

--Edly answers:
Here's the short answer, without the sheet music in front of me.

G# is G#. Fx (double sharp) is G (natural). The natural in "F# natural" would be there to cancel a previous Fx, so you'd play F#.

Again, without the music in front of me, I'd guess that in the first case, there had been a G nat just before the G#, and the composer (or editor) wanted to make sure that the player played #. And G# is always G# and Fx (double sharp) is always G (natural) regardless of key signature.

Your second question: There are two levels here. You're right about the 1:2 ratio of an octave. Half steps are all equal (in equal temperment, which Western music theoretically uses--I won't get into the "why theoretically" aspect). That's the first level. The second is the major scale itself. The major scale's pattern of whole-steps and half-steps is what makes it sound like a major scale, just like a four sided polygon with sides of equal length and all right angles is, by definition, a square. So, the notes in a major scale are irregularly spaced according to the pattern of w w h w w w h. ("Regularly spaced," or symmetrical scales, such as the whole-tone scale--w w w w w w or diminished--w h w h w h w h, disorient the ear due to their symmetry, and make it hard to hear just which note is the tonic. Try it, and you'll hear what I mean.)

In other words, the major scale sounds "right" because it IS. If you play a natural minor scale--w h w w h w w, it sounds "right"--for a natural minor scale because it IS.

Hope these answers help!

Edly - Author and publisher of:

• Edly's Music Theory for Practical People
• Edly Paints the Ivories Blue

See GuitarSam March 2000 interview with Edly:
http://www.guitarsam.com/interviews/edly.htm

This "Ask Edly" article first appeared in GuitarSam eZine, Vol. 20 [05 Jun 2000]
http://www.guitarsam.com

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