Sharp (music)
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- This article is about the musical notation. For alternate uses, see Sharp (disambiguation).
In music, sharp means higher in pitch. More specifically, in musical notation, sharp means "higher in pitch by a semitone (half step)," and has an associated symbol (
), which looks somewhat like a "#" (number sign). The Unicode character '♯' (U+266F) may display as a sharp sign on some computers, and '𝄪' (U+1D12A) may display as a double sharp.
Under twelve tone equal temperament, B sharp for instance is the same as, or enharmonically equivalent to, C natural, and G sharp is the same as A flat. Note that in any other tuning system, such enharmonic equivalences in general do not exist.
Double sharps also exist, which look like 
and raise a note by two semitones, or a whole step. Less often (in for instance microtonal music notation) one will encounter half, or three-quarter, or otherwise modified, sharps.
The note C sharp is shown in musical notation in Figure 1, together with C double sharp.
In tuning, sharp can also mean "slightly higher in pitch". If two simultaneous notes are slightly out of tune, the higher-pitched one (assuming the lower one is properly pitched) is said to be sharp with respect to the other.
[edit] See also
| Musical notation | edit |
| Staff : Bar line | Clef | Key signature | Ledger line | Time signature | Rehearsal letter | |
| Notes : Accidental | Dotted note | Note value | Rest | Slur | Tie | |
| Expression marks: Articulation | Dynamics | Octaves | Ornaments | Tempo | |
