I didn't think this topic would become an issue in my composing -- after all, what could be more basic than notating accidentals? -- but recently, while working with a couple of pianists to record my pieces, it came to my attention that my notation isn't always that clear, or even if it's unambiguous, it may still be tricky to read, thereby leading to mistakes in performance.
I currently use Lilypond for my scores, and it offers quite a few alternatives for notating accidentals: https://lilypond.org/doc/v2.23/Documentation/notation/displaying-pitches#automatic-accidentals
I had been using the "default" setting, not having paid attention to this issue until recently, but it turns out that it leads to notation that isn't always the easiest for pianists to read.
So my question is: what's the best style to use? What would you recommend? I see "piano" and "piano-cautionary" as the most likely candidates, as least for piano pieces. But what about other types of music? What do y'all think?
And in general, what conventions do you use in notating accidentals?
P.S. this topic is not talking about spelling notes as sharps or flats. That's a separate issue, and in Lilypond generally isn't a problem because it already requires the composer to input sharps or flats explicitly. The issue is with the printing of accidentals after another one has already printed elsewhere: e.g., if there's a C# in a bar and another C# in the same bar -- should the 2nd # be printed or not? What if they're an octave apart? What if there's a C natural elsewhere in the same bar? Or in the previous bar? Or in another staff of the same instrument (e.g., RH vs LH in a piano score)? Etc..
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What about if the same pitch occurs in two separate staves? E.g., C# in LH and C# in RH in the same bar (but different beat) in a piano score: should the second # be printed?
Also, what about a chord that has different accidentals for the same pitch class? E.g., C#-E-G-C: should a cautionary (parenthesized) accidental be printed on the C natural?
"What about if the same pitch occurs in two separate staves? E.g., C# in LH and C# in RH in the same bar (but different beat) in a piano score: should the second # be printed?"
Separate staves, same exact pitch: yes.
"Also, what about a chord that has different accidentals for the same pitch class? E.g., C#-E-G-C: should a cautionary (parenthesized) accidental be printed on the C natural?"
You shouldn't need a natural, but if you want to be sure they understand, use natural in parentheses.
Follow up question: if in the same bar the LH has B flat in beat 1 and the RH has B natural in beat 4, should a natural sign be printed for the B natural?
If the B's are not in the same clef, it isn't necessary to write the natural - unless it is the same pitch. The rule is: flats don't cross clefs.
To me, yes. To avoid ambiguity.
My notation software offers two choices, traditional and Vienna (i.e. 12-tone/serial/ modern) but the problem with traditional is partly re-inflecting double sharps and flats to adjust them a semitone. It would probably be worse with microtonal stuff but I'm rarely involved with that.
I sign a (single) natural if I want the note restored to natural. To raise a doubte flat half a tone I sign a natural with a flat. Opposite direction with doubte sharps.
As I tend to a modern style I use single sharps flats and naturals but can go beyond to preserve the shape of a phrase. As dissonance features often I apply coutesy accidentals if necessary. Too little of my stuff is publicly performed for it to become a worry.
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Yeah I noticed that Lilypond's default setting is quite traditional, if a sharp follows a flat on the same pitch, it will print an extra natural to "cancel" out the sharp before printing the flat. It's awesome for transcribing classical era pieces, but in modern notation this seems quite redundant. Thankfully, the "piano" and "piano-cautionary" settings seem to do the Right Thing(tm) w.r.t. modern notation for the most part, so I guess I'll stick with that, and manually tweak individual notes where needed (thankfully, there's a facility for this too).
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