Accidentals

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An element, note, or effect in music that alters the pitch of a tone, particularly in relation to the key signature
2. Musical symbols representing pitches that diverge from the main key, typically used to create chromatic variations
3. Additional notes that introduce variations outside of diatonic scales, often for expressive purposes in a composition

Etymology: The plural "accidentals" is the form of "accidental", and the musical sense is where the word's history gets interesting. "Accidental" comes from Late Latin "accidentalis", an adjective built on "accident", meaning something that happens by chance, and it passed into English through Anglo-Norman and Middle French, where it was used for things that are not essential to a thing's nature. The musical meaning grows from that sense of "non-essential": a sharp or flat written in the middle of a piece is not part of the key signature that defines the music's home scale, so it is treated as an incidental extra. That contrast is the whole logic of the term. The key signature sets the essential pitches for a passage, while the notes that depart from it arrive by chance in the sense of being added, not structural. The word therefore carries its philosophical meaning, the quality of being contingent rather than essential, into the notation of a staff.

Synonyms: ornaments, embellishments, decorations, alterations, modifications

Antonyms: essentials, basics, fundamentals