Notes, the keyboard and the octave
Name all 12 notes, find any of them on a piano keyboard, read sharps and flats, and explain why a C and the next C sound like the same note.
SEVEN LETTERS
The note names
The white keys are named with seven letters: C D E F G A B, and then the letters start again. In Iran, France, Italy and many other countries the same seven notes are sung as do re mi fa sol la si. C is do, D is re, and so on. They are two labels for the same keys.
C=do · D=re · E=mi · F=fa · G=sol · A=la · B=si. This course uses the letters, because chord names all over the world are written with them: C, Am, G7.
One stretch of the keyboard.
Top two rows: the black keys (each has two names).
Bottom row: the white keys.
C# D# F# G# A#
Db Eb Gb Ab Bb
C D E F G A B C7 white keys + 5 black keys = 12 different notes.
Then the same pattern repeats, higher.The black keys come in groups of two and three. That is your landmark: C is always the white key just to the left of a group of TWO black keys. F is just to the left of a group of THREE.
Check yourself
Sara sits down at a piano with no labels on it and wants to play a C. Which key should she look for?
- The white key just left of a group of three black keys
- The white key between the two black keys of a pair
- The very first key at the left end of the piano
- The white key just left of a group of two black keys
Show the answer
The white key just left of a group of two black keys
Yes. Every pair of black keys has a C sitting right before it, so she can find a C anywhere on the keyboard.
Sharp (#) and flat (b)
A sharp means the very next key to the right, one step higher. A flat means the very next key to the left, one step lower. So each black key has two names, depending on which neighbour you name it after.
The black key between C and D is C# (C raised) and also Db (D lowered). Same key, same sound, two spellings. Which spelling gets used depends on the scale, as you will see next lesson.
Check yourself
On a piano, F# and Gb are played with the same key.
Show the answer
True
True. F# is the key just right of F, and Gb is the key just left of G. That is the same black key, named from two sides.
THE REPEAT
The octave
Go up 12 keys from any note, counting black and white, and you land on the same letter again. That distance is an octave, named for the eight white-key names it spans: C D E F G A B C. The two notes sound like the same note, one higher and one lower. The reason is physical: the higher one vibrates exactly twice as fast.
In standard tuning, the A above the middle of the piano vibrates 440 times a second. The next A up vibrates 880 times a second. Your ear hears that neat 2-to-1 match as "same note, higher".
Check yourself
Omid plays a G, then moves 12 keys to the right, counting every key, black and white. Which note does he land on?
- G#, because 12 is an even number of steps
- D, because he has passed most of the letters
- G again, one octave higher
- It depends on how many black keys he crossed
Show the answer
G again, one octave higher
Right. There are 12 different notes, so 12 keys up from any note is always the same note an octave higher.
Twelve notes, all the music
- Western music, from Bach to today's pop, is built from these 12 notes, repeated in higher and lower octaves.
- A full-size piano has 88 keys, which is a little over seven octaves of the same 12.
- On a guitar, one fret is one piano key. Moving up 12 frets on a string gives you the octave.
- Your voice has no keys at all, which is why singers use the keyboard as a map.
Check yourself
Is there a black key between these two white keys?
- C and D
- E and F
- F and G
- B and C
- A and B
- G and A
Show the answer
Yes, a black key: C and D, F and G, A and B, G and A
No, direct neighbours: E and F, B and C
Check yourself
Match each description to the same key under another name
Show the answer
- D# → Eb
- A# → Bb
- The key just right of E → F
- The key just left of C → B
- G# → Ab
Lesson recap
- The white keys are C D E F G A B (do re mi fa sol la si); C sits just left of every pair of black keys.
- A sharp is the next key to the right, a flat is the next key to the left, so each black key has two names.
- E–F and B–C have no black key between them.
- There are 12 different notes. Twelve keys up is an octave: the same note, vibrating twice as fast.