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Flats

Yes. Anytime you see B or E in a key with 2 flats (Bb Major, G minor) those notes will be flatted to Bb and Eb. It is important to note that they are not A# and D#. Those are different notes in context.


And yes I know exactly what an enharmonic equivalent is. A# will be intonated differently than a Bb. Those are different notes.
 
+1 onlyclave.

Those are Bb and Eb everywhere *unless* there's a "natural" symbol in front of the note to tell you not to play the flatted version.

If in a piece of music the B and the E is flatted, that goes for the full scale??

Actually, to be technically correct, Bb and Eb is the definition of the scale. That is, the piece of music is in a key that uses a Bb and Eb. That is, the scale is one with Bb and Eb.

Google "Key Signatures" and the "Cycle of Fifths" for more info.
 
Yes, but what about a scale that is non-diatonic? For example the scale spelling is {1,2,b3,#4,#5,6,b7}.

Key signatures are best suited for diatonic scales. If you have a scale that uses sharps and flats, using a key sig would be optional depending on what the notes are. For instance in Gminor the F is usually raised to F#, but that is not put in the key sig, just written in as an accidental.

In the scale you have if C is the root then we would have C, D, Eb, F#, G#, A, Bb. If you wanted to use a key sig then two flats would work, and F#, and G# would be accidentals. Personally I wouldn't want to read a part like that because to see the two flats I'd be thinking "key of Bb or Gm" and that wouldn't really be the case. Another answer would be 3 flats (cause your example is closer to Cm) and have F#, G#, and A natural as accidentals.

I'm thinking that scales like you have sited are more for improv and have to do with momentary key centers or chord progression rather than the overall key of a piece.
 
Yes, that is exactly the point I was hoping to make. Though, while I am inclined to agree that your final comment would be more the "norm", I think it should be remembered with an open mind that it might not necessarily be the case. The main point I want to make is not to get caught up in things necessarily being part of a diatonic paradigm.
 
I think it should be remembered with an open mind that it might not necessarily be the case.

Right. It's interesting to me that key signtures (and really all aspects of music notation) are a technology, an old one to be sure, but a technology none the less. And as with all technologies, old ones and whatever has been done yesterday with IC chips, there is something lost in flexibility and gained in ease.
 
Yes, that is exactly the point I was hoping to make. Though, while I am inclined to agree that your final comment would be more the "norm", I think it should be remembered with an open mind that it might not necessarily be the case. The main point I want to make is not to get caught up in things necessarily being part of a diatonic paradigm.

The question was diatonic, the answer was diatonic.

When the subject changes to pandiatonicism or atonal we'll call you.
 
No it wasn't. Try reading things, as usual, rather than seeing what you would like to see, as usual. The original post doesn't use the word diatonic, key or even major or minor. Nice jumping to conclusions, as usual.

"If in a piece of music the B and the E is flatted, that goes for the full scale??"

Actually, it was. Where else would you see a Bb and Eb, Mr. Synthetic Scale?

Read between the lines and understand what the poster is asking in the context he is asking it in. He is clearly not looking at the inverse retrograde of his 12-tone row.
 
In the scale you have if C is the root then we would have C, D, Eb, F#, G#, A, Bb.

Oh, it's a "synthetic scale though". Just a group of notes pretending to relate to each other, because we all know only notes that have an obvious diatonic function can be called a real scale.

Read beteen the lines and understand that, while the poster might be talking about diatonic function, it is my prerogative to suggest that there is more to it than whether Eb and Bb have to fit into a keysignature. This is the usual arguing of semantics that follows when people don't realise that Eb and Bb are just the names of a certain frequency as assigned by chromatic even tempering and diatonic nomenclature.