Sharps, Flats, & Enharmonics

In the post before this I discussed the basic knowledge of the staff. Going a little more in-depth about note names, flats, and sharps. Every note, except E, F, B, and C, has two names. One note is sharp and the other is flat. Both names apply to a note of the same pitch. They are played the exact same way but in written composition you might see it named two different ways. The two names for a note are called enharmonics.
Sharps are represented with what looks like a number sign and flats are shown by a little 'b'.









A note that is sharp means its pitch is half a step higher than the natural of that note. Flat is the opposite, the pitch is half a step lower than the natural note. Flats and Sharps make up the key signature on a staff. The key signature is located in front of the clef symbol and tells you what key the composer wrote the piece in. Each line or space a sharp or flat is on is intended for that note to be sharp or flat.
For example:





In a piece of music the composer might change a note from sharp to natural, flat to natural, or vice versa or either of those. This occurrence is called an accidental. Accidental going from flat or sharp to a natural are shown with the natural sign as shown below. All accidentals apply to that measure only. After, the measure with the accidental ends you continue using the sharps and flats the composer put in the key signature.






C-sharp = D-flat
D-sharp = E-flat
E-sharp = F
F-flat = E
F-sharp = G-flat
G-sharp = A-flat
A-sharp = B-flat
B-sharp = C
C-flat =B