Keyboard

This section will be strictly piano based, but it will reinforce universal musical concepts learned in the last section.

Piano Connection:

Because different pitches are located on different keys on the piano, every key also has its own letter name.

For the purposes of this lesson, I have named the C key one octave below Middle C the "Bass C."

The picture above shows all the keys on a standard-sized upright or grand piano. As we can see, every key is labeled with a letter from A to G, and the highlighted "C" repeats for every 8 letters.

Why highlight letter C? Because C, more specifically, "Middle C," is what musicians have established as the central key around which other keys are based on. "C" is extremely special because we can play its scale without ever touching the black keys, making it a somewhat "pure" scale. If we play 8 continuous white notes on any key other than C, we will find that the scale sounds "wrong." Only when we start from C does the scalesound "right."

Also, Middle C separates the two halves of the piano. To the left of Middle C are the lower-pitched notes, and to the right are higher-pitched notes. Therefore, we usually play keys below Middle C with our left hand and keys above with our right hand.

In music notation, the Middle C is also important because it separates the Treble from the Bass Clef. Notes below middle C are usually written on the Bass Staff and notes above Middle C are usually written on the Treble Staff. Of course, exceptions exist, such as when hands cross over, but that mostly occurs in fairly advanced music.


Review

  1. Every key on the piano has its own letter name.
  2. Middle C is important because it is the central key around which other keys are located around and separates keys played by the right hand from the left.
  3. In music notation, Middle C separates notes written on the Treble Clef from notes written on the Bass Clef.

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