Chapter 1
CHAPTER 1: The Keyboard & The Musical Alphabet
When you first sit down at a piano, seeing 88 keys can feel overwhelming. But music is highly logical. The piano is simply a repeating pattern. Once you understand the pattern, you can navigate the entire instrument.
The Musical Alphabet
In standard English, the alphabet goes from A to Z. In music, our alphabet is much shorter. We only use the first seven letters:
A – B – C – D – E – F – G
Once you reach G, the alphabet simply starts over again at A. Every key on the piano is named after one of these seven letters.
The Black and White Keys
Look closely at the keyboard. You will notice that the white keys are all continuous, but the black keys are grouped in a very specific pattern: groups of twos and groups of threes.
These black keys are your landmarks. Without them, the piano would just be a sea of identical white keys, and we wouldn't know where we are! We use the black keys to find our notes.
Finding "C"
The most important note for a beginner to find is C.
To find any "C" on the piano:
Look for a group of two black keys.
Find the white key immediately to the left of those two black keys.
That white key is C.
If you sit right in the middle of the piano, the C closest to the center of your body is called Middle C. This will be home base for many of your early exercises.