Accidentals

Accidentals can be introduced in two ways.


The first way, the manual way of coding them, consists for example in coding normalshapemediumseries normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\fl a to put a flat at the pitch a, supposedly before the further note of that pitch. There is no control upon the fact that a note will be put at this position and at this pitch. Naturals, sharps, double flats and double sharps are coded normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\na p, normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\sh p, normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\dfl p and normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\dsh p respectively.


Alternate procedures normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\lfl, normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\lna, normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\lsh, normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\ldfl and normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\ldsh place the same accidentals, but their abscissa is shifted one note head width on the left. The purpose of this is to avoid collision of accidentals in a chord with narrow intervals.


The second way of coding accidentals consists in putting the symbol normalshapemediumseries ˆ (sharp), the symbol normalshapemediumseries_ (flat), the symbol normalshapemediumseries= (natural), the symbol normalshapemediumseries> (double sharp), or the symbol normalshapemediumseries< (double flat) within the coding of the note, e.g.: normalshapemediumseries\qh{ ˆ g} yields a G$\sharp$. This may very well be combined with collective coding, e.g.: normalshapemediumseries\qu{ acˆ d} .


Two sizes are available for accidentals. They revert to the small version when notes are supposed to be too close to each other. These two sizes can be forces by coding normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\bigfl, normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\bigsh, etc., or normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\smallfl, normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\smallsh, etc. If one does not want to have any small accidentals, then one can declare normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\bigaccid (conversely normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\smallaccid or normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\varaccid – the latter restoring variable sizes).


Small accidentals can also be put above the note heads. This is done using normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\uppersh p, normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\upperna p or normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\upperfl p:


\begin{music} \relax \computewidths \debutextrait \normal \temps\NOtes\sk\u... ...rna m\ql m\enotes \temps\NOtes\upperfl l\ql l\enotes \finextrait \end{music}

It also possible to introduce cautionary accidentals on a score, i.e. small size accidentals between parentheses. This done by preceding the name of the accidental keyword by a normalshapemediumseriesc, e.g. by coding normalshapemediumseries normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\cflp to get a cautionary flat. Available cautionary accidentals are normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\csh, normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\cfl, normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\cna, normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\cdfl and normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\cdsh, which give:


\begin{music} \relax \computewidths \debutextrait \normal \temps\NOtes\sk\c... ...s\cdfl j\qu j\enotes \temps\NOtes\cdsh k\qu k\enotes \finextrait \end{music}

Since cautionary accidentals are wider that normal ones, it might be useful to insert some spacing before them, either using normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\temps or a normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\sk within a normalshapemediumseries\notes...normalshapemediumseries\ enotes group.