Piano Keys and Notes
“It doesn’t matter if you’re black or white!” Michael Jackson voice…
A Grand piano features 88 keys and they are in groups of 12 – 7 white and 5 black. Every adjacent key moves you up (to the right) or down (to the left) a half-step or semitone, and all but two sets of white keys are not separated by a black key. B sits next to C and E sits next to F.
Accidentals
Now that we have our white keys that correspond to the letters A through F, how do we identify the black keys? Thanks to the wonderful things called accidentals we are able to express the tones in between our main characters.
Accidentals include:
- Sharps
- Flats
- Double Sharps
- Double Flats
- Naturals
Even the white keys with no space between them – B to C and E to F – can be named using another note name and an accidental. We determine which accidental we use based on what key we are in and whether we are ascending or descending. They help make it easier for musicians to understand the relationships between the notes.
Because there are 5 black keys in between 2 other keys that means that we have 10 different names for these 5 black keys. These double agents can quickly assume the identity of a sharp or a flat in order to blend into their surroundings. This special ability is described as being enharmonic. If you decide to name a black key as a sharp note then it takes on the alias of the key to its left and if you decide to name the note as a flat it assumes the alias of the white key to its right. Either way, we will know that they both refer to the same note and are of the same pitch class.