3.1 | The Piano Keyboard
Learn
Understanding the keyboard is essential to understanding music theory. There are seven letters in the musical alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. These notes—the “natural notes,” since they are neither sharp nor flat—are the white keys on the piano keyboard. Each black key is a half step above (sharp) or below (flat) a natural note.
Half Step: The smallest distance in music.
Whole Step: Two half steps.
Accidental: A symbol that changes the pitch of a note by a half step. Accidentals go after the letter names of pitches and before note heads on the musical staff.
Flat: An accidental that lowers a note by a half step. The symbol for a flat is b (Db is a half step lower than D).
Sharp: An accidental that raises a note by a half step. The symbol for a sharp is # (C# is a half step higher than C).
Enharmonics: Two notes with different letter names that share the same pitch (C# and Db are enharmonically equivalent).
Root: The root of the chord is the same as the letter name of the chord.
Octave: Notes that share the same letter name that are a scale-length away. Notes that are an octave away vibrate at twice the speed.
Draw
Practice drawing a piano keyboard:
Draw a piano keyboard using the method from video.
Label the letter names of each black and white key.
Include both enharmonic names for the black keys.
Identify
Use the flashcards to work on identifying the notes on the piano keyboard.
Practice
Practice playing the notes in C position with your left hand. You can use a real piano or a Paper Piano →.
Turn the metronome on.
Open up the C Position Flashcards →.
Say the letter name of the note on one beat and play the corresponding note on the next.
Continue saying and playing the notes for the rest of the flashcard.
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