Music notation glossary · Accidentals
Double sharp
two semitones higher
As a Unicode character — to paste into text, spreadsheets or chat. Whether it appears depends on the font.
In the score
What it means
Raises by a whole tone. It appears where the key demands it: in G sharp minor the seventh degree is F double sharp, not G, because every degree needs its own letter.
Accidentals
Raises the note by two semitones, that is by a whole tone. It looks like a small cross of four wedges and appears where an already raised note has to be raised once more — in keys with many sharps and in harmonies aiming at a leading note. It is written so that the note name stays right, not because it is convenient.
First the note without a sign, then the same note with it
Related pages
Anotona does this for you
Photograph a page of sheet music or play the melody — Anotona finds the key, engraves the notes and transposes them into any other. Free.
See AnotonaEvery note on this page is computed, not typed in — following the rule that also makes F# major spell its seventh degree E#, not F.