Lesson three

First, let’s learn the names of the white keys. You can use the diagram below to help you.
As you may know already, we use the alphabet to name the white notes of the piano, starting with “A” and moving up by step from left to right through the alphabet to “G”. The next note after “G” is “A”, where the pattern repeats: “A” through to “G”.

You may have already noticed that this occurs all over the keyboard — both up and down — and there are multiple “A”s, “B”s “C”s and so on. It’s common for pianists to refer to the “A” to “G” that sits in the middle of the keyboard as “middle A”, “middle B”, “middle C” and so on.

How do we learn it?

To identify the white notes quickly, you can use the black keys as orientation points , like points on a map. For example (using the diagram below), if I want to find the note “A”, look for a group of three black keys, move inwards to the two white keys enclosed, and “A” is on the right-hand-side.

Why learn it like this?

By using the black keys as orientation points, it makes identifying the white notes quick and easy compared with trying to work them out sequentially. It’s worth learning a few of the notes using this approach. For example, I could easily remember where “F” is by looking for the group of three black keys. “F” is the white key on the left-hand-side, as you’ll see in the diagram below. Before long you’ll know the white keys inside out.

Good-to-know terminology

A musical term you may have already heard, that defines the distance between two successive notes that share the same name (e.g. from middle “A” to the next “A” above), is called an “octave”.

We’d call the distance from middle “A” to the next “A” above that “two octaves”. Have a quick glance at the next diagram. The next “A” above that (still starting on “middle A”) would be “three octaves” — you get the idea.


( N.B. words like above or up on a keyboard means to move right, whereas
below or down means to move left.)


Octaves are useful to know because if you were instructed to play an “A” two octaves above “middle A”, you’d know which “A” you’d need to play. Similarly, if you were instructed to play an “A” two octaves below “middle A”, you’d know to instead play that “A” (the one two octaves below “middle A”), etc.


Practice tips
Bite-size chunks are where it’s at. They’re easier to digest, understand and remember. It’ll be a theme amongst most practice tips . When learning the white keys, do a little and often. Rather than sitting down for an unproductive hour, why not try to make habit of testing yourself for a minute or two every time you walk past your piano?
For example, just before leaving for work in the morning, spend 30 seconds trying to find all the “F”s up and down the keyboard. Once you’re familiar with the “F”s, when you next pass the piano, try and find all the “C”s. Then all the “A”s, etc. Before long you’ll have sussed all the names of the white keys.