Which term refers to a sharp, flat, or natural written before a note?

The term that refers to a sharp, flat, or natural written before a note is "accidental." Accidentals are symbols that modify the pitch of a note, altering its original value. For example, if a note is a C, placing a sharp sign before it changes it to C-sharp, raising its pitch by a half step. Similarly, a flat would lower the pitch of the note by a half step, and a natural cancels any previous sharps or flats for that note in the measure.

Understanding accidentals is crucial for reading and interpreting music accurately, as they indicate how a note should be played in relation to the diatonic scale. In contrast, the other terms like articulation, dynamic, and interval describe different musical concepts. Articulation relates to how notes are played or sung—smoothly or detached, for example. Dynamics refer to the volume of the music, indicating how loudly or softly a passage should be performed. An interval is a measure of the distance between two pitches rather than a modification of a single note's pitch.