What does a neutral AND a sharp in front of a note indicate?

Question

The music piece is in E flat major, and I need help with a certain note. It's note A and right in front of it is a neutral AND a sharp (neutral sign first, following a sharp sign).

Thanks! =)

Ahh yes. Natural* Thanks for correcting me.

Answer 1

Granted that is an odd one...I don't know for certain but I can venture a guess;
First off, its NATURAL, not neutral.
Secondly, in the key of Eflat, the diatonic fourth would be Aflat. Assuming there are no other alterations to it within the measure, I'm thinking the composer wanted to raise this note a whole step. Since the # technically raises a note by a half step, the natural accidental would be required for the other half-step. For nomenclature reasons, it might not have been appropriate to label the note Bflat- but what I don't understand is why the Aflat wasn't simply double-sharped; a much more common convention that a natural-sharp combination.

It's just a guess....I'm a bit rusty on my theory, sorry to say.

Answer 2

both together? wow that;s confusing usually a neutral indicates that the music's been brought back down from a sharp....sorry i'm not to sure