A Few Simple Tips for Reading Music Notes

August 28th, 2009

I’ve been away for a few days at a friend’s cottage for my last vacation for the summer (no Internet of course), so now I’m back to posting regularly again. One of the first things I did when I got home was practice Debussy’s Clair De Lune on the piano.

Whether your goal is to be a musical success, or you just want to add another skill to you ever growing repertoire, learning how to play the piano can open the door to a variety of different possibilities if you have the right skills. Whatever your persona l goals in music are, you have to start somewhere in order to achieve those goals. Learning the music notes and how they correspond to the piano is one of the first skills you must learn.

Hopefully, you own or have access to an 88-key piano or electronic keyboard. Learning how to identify and play those basic notes should be your first step in learning piano. These basic notes are known as the first seven letters of the alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. The note, “C”, is always the key that is connected in front of two black keys. The “F” note is the key that is in front of the three black keys which are compacted together. This explanation may seem a little confusing, so it’s best to use a visual aid. Use the diagram below to locate the keys on the keyboard with their corresponding letter notes, and even which line or space they fall on the grand staff.

Musical Notation and Corresponding Piano Keys

After you have gained some knowledge from identifying keys and their corresponding notes, you need to learn how to distinguish between sharps and flats. The black notes on the piano represent sharps and flats, but their use will depend on the side you plan to start from. A sharp symbol (#) identifies a black key that directly follows a white key. Oppositely, a “b” is used as the symbol that denotes a flat, which is most commonly a black note that precedes a white note. So, for example, D Flat (Db) and C Sharp (C#) are actually the same key on the keyboard, even though they are called different notes. If you don’t understand this now, that’s no problem. It takes time to recognize these and you should find the proper piano teacher or music theory book to help you get familiar with musical notation.

Next, you need to learn where Middle C is located. If you look on the diagram, Middle C is always the fourth C from the left, almost right in the middle of the keyboard. Basically, Middle C functions as a wall that separates the right hand and the left hand of the keyboard. This makes reading and playing music a little bit easier. So, the keys located to the right of Middle C are usually played with the right hand, and those to the left of Middle C are normally played with the left hand.

Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:

Study the diagram that I posted above. If you are very unfamiliar with musical notation and which key is which on the keyboard, you should print out this diagram and use it to your advantage. Take it to your piano, look at each note, and play the key. Even further, you can print out tiny letters from A to G on your computer, cut them up, and tape them with scotch tape onto each key of your piano. This may help initially, but it may also be uncomfortable for your fingers when you play. It should merely be used as a familiarization exercise. Once you know these notes, you will need the bare keys of the piano to properly form your technique and avoid bad habits and injury. I wish you good luck!

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