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Introduction To Basics of Keyboard

The document discusses the notes on a piano keyboard. It begins by explaining that there are 12 notes that repeat in Western music, represented by 7 white and 5 black keys on the piano. It then provides the note names for each key, as well as how to determine the names of the black keys based on their relation to the surrounding white keys. Finally, it defines the intervals of a semitone, whole tone, and octave based on the distances between notes on the keyboard.

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Stalin Chelladurai
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483 views

Introduction To Basics of Keyboard

The document discusses the notes on a piano keyboard. It begins by explaining that there are 12 notes that repeat in Western music, represented by 7 white and 5 black keys on the piano. It then provides the note names for each key, as well as how to determine the names of the black keys based on their relation to the surrounding white keys. Finally, it defines the intervals of a semitone, whole tone, and octave based on the distances between notes on the keyboard.

Uploaded by

Stalin Chelladurai
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction

The note names


In Western music, we can distinguish 12 different notes. Every song or piece of music is made of
only those 12 different notes.

On the keyboard, you can see a repetitive pattern of white and black keys.

One such a pattern consists of 12 keys,

7 white keys:

and 5 black keys:

Those are exactly the 12 different notes in Western music I spoke of above.

The note names of the white keys


This might sound funny, but to find the names of the white keys, look first at the black keys: they
come in groups of 2 black keys and 3 black keys. Just at the left of a group of 2 black keys you
can find the note C.
To find the names of the other white keys, just go up alphabetically to G as in the next figure.

Now, we have to name 2 more white keys. Notice that we’ve used the letters C to G in
alphabetical order, but we haven’t used the 2 first letters of the alphabet yet. So, let’s use them for
the 2 missing keys, as follows:

The note names of the black keys


Do you remember that we had to look at the black keys first to find the names of the white keys?
Well, let’s reverse the roles now: to find the names of the black keys, we have to look at the
white key names first, since the names of the black keys are derived from the white key names.

As you can see, a black key is always situated between 2 white keys. The black key indicated by
the arrow in the figure below is for example between the C and the D. As this note is higher than
the C, but lower than the D (the pitch of the notes gets higher when you go from left to right), we
call this note C sharp, or D flat.

So, sharp means: the note just at the right, and flat means: the note just at the left. We write C
sharp as C# and D flat as Db.

So the black keys actually have 2 names, the name of the white key at the left with a sharp (#)
sign, or the name of the white key at the right with a flat (b) sign.

In the next figure, you can see all the names of the notes on a piano keyboard.

As you can see, this is a pattern of 12 different notes (represented on the piano by 7 white keys
and 5 black keys) that repeats itself.

Double sharps and double flats


Btw, notice that on the right side of the B and on the right side of the E, there is no black key. So
you could call the C also B#, and the F an E#. Or, in the same way, you could call the B a Cb and
the E an Fb. In music theory, this is sometimes needed (the 7th note in the F# major scale is an
E#, not an F, even if it is exactly the same note). It is even possible to have double flats (bb) or
double sharps (##). For example, a C## is raised 2 times, so this is equivalent to a D. A shorter
writing for double sharp looks a bit like an x (see figure below), so Cx would be the same note as
C## or just simply D.

Enharmonic equivalent
Two notes that are written differently, but that are actually one and the same note, are called
enharmonic equivalent notes.

C# and Db are for example enharmonic equivalent notes: they are written differently, but are the
same note.

Other examples:

 A# and Bb
 E# and F
 F## (or Fx) and G
 Bbb and A
 etcetera

Now you should be able to recognize the keys of the piano and know the names of the
corresponding notes. In the beginning, you will probably not remember every note and every key
on the piano, so just practice 5 minutes a day and you will see: in no time you will master it.
The middle C
From all the C’s on the piano, there’s only one that is the middle C. The middle C is, as you
guessed already, a C that doesn’t sound (very) low nor (very) high. It sounds, well, in the
middle… But where is middle C on a piano or keyboard?

Where is the middle C?


The location of the middle C on a piano or keyboard depends on the number of keys that your
instrument has. An acoustic piano normally has 88 keys. An electronic keyboard however has not
necessarily always 88 keys. There are keyboards with 76, 73, 61 or 54 keys, and even other
numbers of keys exist. As a general rule: the middle C is the C that is nearest to the exact middle
of the keyboard.

Let me illustrate this with some keyboard-examples.

The middle C on an 88 key piano (most acoustic pianos)


To find the middle C on an 88 key piano or keyboard, look for the exact middle of the keyboard.
Since the keyboard has 88 keys, this is between key 44 and 45 (red arrow in figure). The middle
C (highlighted in blue) is the C nearest to the exact middle of the piano.

On an 88 key piano or keyboard, the middle C is the 4th C from the left of the keyboard.
The middle C on a 76 key piano
The exact middle of a 76 key piano is showed in the next figure. In the same figure, the middle C
–which is the C nearest to the middle of the keyboard- is also indicated.

The middle C on other keyboards


As mentioned above, the general rule states: the middle C is the C that is nearest to the exact
middle of the keyboard. And, to be honest, it’s normally not even necessary to count the number
of keys, divide by 2, look for the nearest C, etcetera: with a little bit of feeling, you can see at a
glance which C is the middle C.
Half steps, whole steps, octaves
When you play 2 different notes at the same time or one after the other, you will have a lower and
a higher note. This means there is a distance (in pitch) between the 2 notes. This distance is called
the interval between the 2 notes, the note interval, or simply interval.

You can measure this intervals between notes in number of semitones, and this takes us directly
to our first interval: the semitone.

The semitone
The easiest way to explain semitones is to look at the piano keyboard. A semitone is the interval
from a key on the keyboard to the first note at the left or the right. So, for example, the interval
from C to C# (or Db) in the next figure is a semitone.

Or, for example from G# (or Ab) to A:

It’s also possible to have a semitone between 2 white keys; this is the case between E and F and
between B and C:

Notice that it’s not possible to have an interval of a semitone between 2 black keys on the piano.

Other names for a semitone are: half tone or half step.


The whole tone
The whole tone, or also called whole step, is an interval that consists of 2 semitones. Here are
some examples of a whole tone:

From C to D:

From F# (or Gb) to G# (or Ab):

From E to F# (or Gb):

From Bb (or A#) to C:


The octave
The octave is an interval of 12 semitones, or 6 whole tones.

Since there are 12 different notes in Western music, this means that when you go up an octave,
you arrive at the same note. Well, it’s of course not exactly the same note, since it’s higher in
pitch: an octave higher.

For example, from C to C:

Or, from Ab to Ab:

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