I've read some scores where B# indicated C and E# indicated F. A little confusing.

A Major chromatic has a B# and an E#.. perhaps you could be more specific?

There is a big mistake that B# = C. It does NOT. This is all caused by the "well-tempered" instruments. guitars, pianos etc. They average the notes to place them in one easy to access location (a key, fret etc). Technically B# is slightly flatter than C. Similarly Cb is slightly sharper than B. You do make the distinction on non tempered instruments like 'cellos etc. At least I was always taught to. You play B# slightly flatter than a C. VERY slightly :) Chromatic scales were standardised when the temperance of notes was introduced to make use of this averaging. There are earlier chromatic scales that are different.

1) "The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone or half step apart." "The most common conception of the chromatic scale before equal temperament was the Pythagorean chromatic scale, which is essentially a series of eleven 3:2 perfect fifths. The twelve-tone equally tempered scale tempers, or modifies, the Pythagorean chromatic scale by lowering each fifth slightly less than two cents, thus eliminating the Pythagorean comma of approximately 23.5 cents." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromatic_scale 2) "The perfect fifth or diapente (sometimes abbreviated P5) is a musical interval which is responsible for the most consonant, or stable, harmony outside of the unison and octave." "A perfect fifth in just intonation, a just fifth, corresponds to a frequency ratio of 3:2, while in 12-tone equal temperament, a perfect fifth is equal to seven semitones, or 700 cents, about two cents smaller than the just fifth." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_fifth 3) "In music theory, the circle of fifths (or cycle of fifths) is an imaginary geometrical space that depicts relationships among the 12 equal-tempered pitch classes comprising the familiar chromatic scale." "If one starts on any equal-tempered pitch and repeatedly ascends by the musical interval of a perfect fifth, one will eventually land on a pitch with the same pitch class as the initial one, passing through all the other equal-tempered chromatic pitch classes in between." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_fifths 4) Starting with F, only the first 7 pitch classes in the circle of fifths have been given a letter as name: F - C - G - D - A - E - B The elements of a pitch class inside an octave are then in this order: C - D - E - F - G - A - B - [C] However, D - E and B - C are semitones, the others are tones. This is the reason why, in equal temperament, we use: - for B# the more practical form C - for E# the more practical form F - for Câ™­ the more practical form B - for Fâ™­ the more practical form E.

Well, technically there is...If you look at a piano, you will see that if you go up one half step from b, you have c...not b#. Same thing with e...one half step up is f.

It really depends on the key signature and the level of readability you want the person playing your music to have. B# is equal to C, and E# is equal to F, but if you're playing in a key that has Seven sharps, it's easier to just notate the B# versus the C, because it helps the piece flow better and makes it much easier to sight-read and learn.

There is. If you look on a piano, you won't find them, but they are there. The way a scale works is that it must progress from letter to letter; no skipping. It would have to be A B C D E F G or C D E F G A B or wherever you start from. The way scales are constructed is (in steps) whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half (that's a major scale). Now, let's say you do an F# Major scale. It goes: F# (Whole) G# (Whole) A# (Half) B (Whole) C# (Whole) D# (Whole) *E#* (Half) F# You can see that there's an E# in the F# Major scale. But, on a piano, it's the same key as an F, and if you heard it, it would sound like F, because they are the exact same note. The name is only different because you can't skip a letter; you can't go from D to F, because you skipped E. That's what makes a scale what it is.

On occasions C can be called B# and F can be called E#. When I started learning music the teacher told us that B# , E#, Fb and Cb did not exist. What he really meant in a certain sense was that there is not an extra note between B and C, and between E and F. Or that there was not an extra semitone between this notes. I know he knew about the equivalence or proximity of these notes, but he was trying to give us a simplistic explanation of the chromatic scale for apt for a beginner level student.

I have thought for a long time that it was time for a revolution.

Because you are dealing with enharmonics! An enharmonic tone or interval is equal to some other note but is spelled differently. In other words, when you get to b sharp, the name of the notes changes to c, but in reality it is a b sharp with a different name. Same thing for e sharp: The e sharp becomes f. We call that enharmonics!

To simplify the last answer: B sharp and E sharp do exist if: You are in the key of F sharp which has 6 sharps in the Key Signature You are in the key of C Sharp Major which has 7 sharps in the Key Signature.

There are natural half steps between 'B and C' and 'E and F'. Since a sharp raises a note's value by half a step, that means B# would equal C and E# would equal F.