Re: do these notes exist?

[Michael David Crawford]

I learned a scale with double-sharps just the other day.  Let me see... 
Key of A# Minor.  From Scales and Arpeggios for Keyboard by Palmer, 
Manus and Lethco, page 52:

A# Harmonic Minor:

   A# B# C# D# E F# G## A#

A# Melodic Minor, Ascending:

   A# B# C# D# E F## G## A#

Now, F## is G natural, and G## is A natural.  But my understanding for 
the odd double-sharp and double-flat notation is that convention calls 
for every letter - ABCDEFG - to be present in every key, with enough 
sharps or flats added to make the intervals right.  Without that 
convention, the harmonic minor would be:

  A# C C# D# E F# A A#

So you see, C and A would occur twice, but with different accidentals. 
That would probably be confusing in an actual score if it was notated 
that way.

--
Michael David Crawford
address@hidden
http://www.geometricvisions.com/ <-- Creative Commons Sheet Music