I'm having difficulty with learning the names of piano keys. Can anyone offer advice?

Question

I started teaching myself to play piano but I recently got a teacher and he says first thing I need to do is learn the key names. I can read music, I just don't know the name like C, A, F, etc. When I'm in the lesson he would call out the name of a key and I'd have three seconds to find it which really worked. How can I practice this at home by myself?

Answer 1

HI Adeline.  I am going to give you an exercise that might just help you learn the names of the keys.   Get a piece of printer paper and draw a couple of octaves.  Make it exactly like the piano keyboard.  Start with the middle C and draw up two octaves with both the white keys and the black keys.   If you want... make your diagram larger than the real keys.   Now...  take some index cards and cut out 15 squares and on these write in the key names.   Now, I am sure your teacher has given you some tips... but you DON"T start with A...  but C D E F G ... and then go to the alphebet....A B C D E F G A B C.     After you label the squares with the letters...  place them where they go on your drawing.   And they go in the order I just gave you.   Now....  after you do that... mess them up.  Do it again.  Mess them up... do it again.  Then go to your piano and see if you begin to start remembering.   Just remember for any of the other octaves...  the key C is always found immediately to the left of the first of the two black ones.  This exercise should become effective after about a week of this game..... if you do it religiously.    Hope I was able to help you.    Thanks for reading.

Piano teacher in the Houston, Texas area.

Answer 2

Sing them out loud alot of times works 4 me to memorize lots of things

Answer 3

Coordination is one of the basic pillars for playing the piano; learning note, finger, chord... positions as well.

Note names are repeated each 7 white keys. So piano keys are structured like this:

white - black - white - black - white - white - black - white - black - white - black - white

with this note order

C - C# - D - D# - E - F - F# - G - G# - A - A# - B

This way you will remember C is before two black keys in a row.

Answer 4

You can always label the keys and practice them.

I would do one octave of the piano from middle C to the following C. Remember that C is always on the immediate left of the left end of the set of two black keys.

Practicing one octave helps since its only  8 keys to get to know and these 8 are repeated throughout the piano. ( once you know one octave you know them all )

then remember that a sharp is the next key ( be it black or white )to the right from the note its on and a flat is the next to the left.

Then practice till its basically ingrained in your head

Answer 5

I teach my students the names of keys by grouping them with the black keys.  First, they learn the notes surrounding the groups of two black keys.  Find a group of two black keys... the white note between them is D.... play every D on the piano (and say its name out loud).  The note to the left of a group of 2 is C.  Play every C on the piano (and say its name out loud.  The note to the right is E.  Play every E on the piano.  Then, start and the low end and move higher playing C-E-C-E-C-E, etc., saying the note names out loud.  Then, do the same thing with C-D-E.

Do a similar thing with the groups of 3 black notes.  This time start with F... then B...... then play F-B-F-B, etc., saying the names out loud.  Then, do G.... then A.... then play G-A-G-A.... then play F-G-A-B.  

Then, to help you keep each group straight, start at the low end and move up, play C-F-C-F, etc, saying the names out loud.  Then, play E-B-E-B the same way.

Answer 6

well, my keyboard starts with C

and goes CDEFGAB CDEFGAB CDEFGAB CDEFGAB C

and what i did was i took EYELINER and i wrote down the names of each key, like, i wrote on the actual key. it comes off too if you want to wipe it off. but if you dont want to actually write on it, write the notes on tiny slips of paper, and tape them on to the keys. and eventually, you won't need to see the names!

Answer 7

Put your RIGHT thumb on the Middle C key and from there it's just a matter of counting up and counting down... and if you can't figure out which key is Middle C... it is the key that is right behind the KEYBOARD LOCK on most pianos because it is right in the middle of the keyboard... which is why it's called Middle C