What Does a Double Flat Mean in Piano Music?
A "double flat" doesn't mean having two flat tires on your car. Instead, in piano music, a double flat lowers a note's pitch. Read on to learn more about double flats, which are a type of musical note called "accidentals."
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Piano Key Basics
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A piano's white keys are "naturals"; the black keys are sharps and flats. Here are the musical notes on a piano keyboard: middle C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and high C (all white keys). The black keys are sharps and flats. Middle C to high C is one octave.
What Is a Double Flat?
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A musical note with two flat signs added lowers the pitch by an entire step. For example, the musical note B with a double flat applied to it lowers the note so that it's harmonically equal to the musical note A.
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How to Recognize a Double Flat
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There are several flats in this music piece. A flat looks like an italicized, script-like lowercase "b" letter next to a musical note, most often to the left. A double flat looks much like "bb" in the same location.
Why Use Double Flats in Piano Music?
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So, why not just say "A" instead of "B double flat"? According to "Pitch: Sharp, Flat, and Natural Notes," these two notes "don't have the same function within a particular chord or a particular key."
What About More than Two Flats?
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Triple flats do exist, but they're mainly found in complicated classical music pieces and are not very common.
Which Songs Use Double Flats?
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If you've ever heard the song "Ten More Miles to Louisiana" by Tony Joe White, you've heard one example of double flats. "Put 'Em Back," a tune from the Broadway musical Lil Abner, is written in the key of C flat. Many other songs also use double flats.
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