Introduction To The Piano | Piano Jump Start
As you can see the notes on a piano are separated into both white and black keys.
Generally, the white keys are known as the natural notes (although there can be some exceptions to that in certain situations) and the black keys may be referred to as accidentals.
You may have heard of certain notes being called sharp or flat. We’ll dive deeper into these two terms in a later video.
Each key on your piano can be identified by a different letter name taken from the letters of the musical alphabet.
The musical alphabet spans only from the letter A to the letter G.
In the musical alphabet there’s no H, there’s no I, no J, or K - nothing after the letter G. Rather, after G we simply go back to the letter A and then repeat the same seven letter pattern all over again.
The first step in being able to identify the letter name of any key on the piano is to find a note with the letter name C.
Looking at my keyboard we can see that the black keys are separated into groups of both three and two. To find a note with the letter name C we want to first look for a set of two black keys. The note with the letter name C will be the white key directly on the left of the two black keys.
You can use this technique to find the note C anywhere on the keyboard.
It's important to point out that the note C will always be next to a pair of only two black keys. That doesn’t mean two black keys within a larger set of three, but rather an isolated pair of only two black keys.
Just like each key on the piano can be identified by a different letter name, each of our fingers can be identified by a different number.
Looking at my hands with my palms facing down I can see that my thumb in both hands is finger number 1. Finger number 2 will be the pointer, or index, finger in both hands. The big guy in the middle, the middle finger, is finger number 3. The ring finger is finger 4 in both hands. And the pinky is finger 5.
It’s very important to keep your palms up and away from the keys - you don’t ever want to lay them flat down on the keyboard.
Shape your hand almost as if you were holding an apple from the top.
If I was to hold an apple with my hand on top and the apple underneath it would make my hand form an almost claw-like shape.
It can be very easy, especially as a beginning piano student, to make a habit of laying your hands flat on the keyboard. However, by keeping your palms up you will be able to play with greater strength and control.
