In a bar of music which I am writing in C Sharp Minor, I have three F's.
The first F in the bar is an F Sharp so it obviously doesn't need a sharp sign next to it, but the second if is a F double sharp, so I've put a double sharp sign infront of it. But my problem is, the third F in the bar is a normal F sharp so when I'm marking it as a normal F sharp do I need to put a flat sign to cancel the double sharp AND a sharp sign to resharpen it or just a sharp sign?
I hope this makes sense!
Thank you!

I'd put a flat infront of it, but in brackets put a #.

In this situation, the second note should have both a natural and a sharp/flat sign (in that order) written before it I would've thought.

Car Expert

I think a natural followed by a sharp is a somewhat old fashioned way (although to my mind clearer) of saying that you want the note to be a sharp, rather than a double sharp. However the more modern way of doing it is simply to put a sharp in front of the note in question.

Is the 3rd F at the same octave as the 2nd F? An accidental only applies to notes on the same line or space, so if the 3rd F is at a different octave to the 2nd F, you wouldn't put an accidental against the 3rd F at all.

Accidentals trump key signatures as they come later in the piece, so the third F merely needs a sharp sign to return to being F#. This also cancels out any previous accidentals at the same pitch.

The third F should have one sharp in front of it!

Just want to add my thoughts to this: Would it not be easier to read if the F double sharp was written as a G natural?

Yes, but it would be wrong in the key signature of C# Minor.

The piece I looked at for reference (from a fairly modern book) uses two accidentals, although it certainly looks rather cramped with two rather than with just the one accidental

Car Expert

F and G are not the same note, except on a tempered instrument like a piano or guitar.

Yes, I know that this is so. Do we know what instrument the composer is writing for? If so then I missed that.




And why is this Hello-Cello? F double sharp is not in that key either.

I agree with this. Natural followed by sharp is the older way to do it, just a sharp on its own is more modern (although some may still use the first method). Both are pretty unambiguous, I think, so it doesn't matter that much which you use, I'd go for the modern method - less cluttered.



Right, but even on piano and guitar, there is still a theoretical difference. In piano music it does usually matter whether something is written as F# or Gb.

No.
Because there are a few G's sharps in the bar also.

Also, the piece is being written for solo piano.