Lesson 1 · 2026-10-07
Notation and the keyboard
The seven note names, where they sit on the white keys, notes on the staff, finger numbers and C position.
The seven letters
Notes are named with the first seven letters of the alphabet: C D E F G A B. After B the names start over at C, one octave higher. Every white key has one of these names.
Finding your way: the black-key groups
The black keys come in alternating groups of two and three. C is the white key just left of a group of two. F is the white key just left of a group of three. Find the group first, then the key.
Middle C and our range
Middle C (C4) is the C nearest the middle of the keyboard. For now everything happens within an octave either side of it: C3 up to C5.
Notes on the staff
Written music sits on a staff of five lines. A clef at the start says which notes the lines mean. The treble clef is used for the right hand. Middle C sits on a short ledger line just below the treble staff; the notes climb line, space, line, space from there.
The bass clef is used for the left hand. Middle C sits on a ledger line just above the bass staff, and the notes below it count down: B, A, G, F, E, D, C.
Finger numbers and C position
Fingers are numbered 1 to 5 from the thumb on each hand, so 1 is always the thumb and 5 the little finger. In C position the right thumb rests on middle C and fingers 2, 3, 4, 5 on D, E, F, G. The left hand mirrors it an octave down: 5 on the C below middle C, up to the thumb on G.
Hand shape: fingers curved as if holding a ball, wrist level, play on the fingertips.