I. Fundamentals
The Keyboard and the Grand Staff
Chelsey Hamm
Key Takeaways
- Playing the piano will help you in your music theoretical studies by allowing you to engage kinesthetically with music.
- A pattern of black keys grouped into twos and threes repeats on the piano keyboard for seven octaves.
- The white note C is to the immediate left of the two-note black key pattern, while the white note F is to the immediate left of the three-note black key pattern.
- Piano players, also called pianists, read music on the grand staff.
- Middle C is the note that appears on the line between the two staves in a grand staff.
- When counting intervals on a piano keyboard, always count the first note as “one.”
Many students find studying music theory easier when they engage with music kinesthetically. In other words, physically creating sounds by playing a musical instrument (such as the piano) helps you to better visualize and audiate the music you are writing down or studying. This allows students to understand the relationship between different pitches more quickly.
The Piano Keyboard
Learning to play notes on the piano is one easy way to engage with music kinesthetically. You may find access to a piano keyboard (acoustic or electronic) at your school. You may also purchase an inexpensive electronic keyboard if you like. Another option is to download a free piano app that you can play on your phone, such as Tiny Piano.
In octave.
, notice that the keyboard has both white keys and black keys. The black keys are grouped into sets of either three or two. In , notice that the sets of three and two black keys alternate throughout the entire length of a piano keyboard, repeating the pattern for eachPlaying the Piano
When you sit at the piano, it is important to sit up straight, keeping your head over your shoulders, which should be kept down. Your elbows should be a comfortable distance from your body, and your fingers should remain arched (as if you were pulling a library book off of a shelf). Keep your knees and wrists flexible (not stiff), and keep your feet flat on the ground unless you are using the pedals.
explains how to achieve proper posture at the piano.
Octave Equivalence and White-Key Letter Names on the Piano Keyboard
the previous chapter, pitches in Western musical notation are designated by the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, repeating in a loop. Because of the principle of octave equivalence in the Western system, pitches separated by an octave have the same letter name.
shows a piano keyboard with the letter names of the white key pitches labeled. The same letter names appear on different keys of the keyboard. As discussed inOn the piano keyboard, when the black keys appear as a set of two, the note to their immediate left is C. With a set of three black keys, the note to their immediate left is F.
The Grand Staff
Music for the piano is typically written in both the treble and bass clefs on a grand staff, as shown in . To make a grand staff,