Notes

Lesson 1 of 8 · ~6 min · Interactive

Every melody you have ever hummed is made of notes - individual musical sounds with a specific pitch. In this lesson you’ll learn how notes are named, where they live on the piano, and how they repeat in octaves. Tap any key on the pianos below; they all play real sound.

1.Natural notes

Music uses just seven letter names, called the natural notes: CDEFGAB. After B, the pattern starts over again at C. On the piano, the natural notes are the white keys.

Notice how the black keys come in alternating groups of two and three. That pattern is your map: the white key just to the left of any group of two black keys is always a C.

2.Middle C

A full piano has 88 keys, so there are many C’s. The one nearest the middle of the keyboard is called Middle C (also written C4). It’s the landmark every pianist and singer navigates from - right hand usually plays above it, left hand below it.

3.Octaves

Play a C, then play the next C to the right. They sound like the “same” note - one just higher than the other. That distance of eight natural notes is an octave. Scientifically, the higher note vibrates exactly twice as fast: A4 is 440 Hz, so A5 is 880 Hz.

Octaves are numbered from low to high. Listen to how the same note changes character:

4.Half steps and whole steps

The smallest distance between two keys - black or white, with nothing in between - is a half step (semitone). Two half steps make a whole step (tone). E→F and B→C are the only natural-note pairs that are a half step apart; that’s why there’s no black key between them.

5.Practice: find the notes

Time to test yourself. The labels are hidden - find each note we ask for. Remember your landmark: C sits just left of the two black keys.