Beginning musicians learning to play the piano may find it helpful to label some of the notes with their corresponding letter names. This can serve as a valuable learning tool and is an easy task to accomplish with the proper tools.
Things You'll Need:
- Small, Round Labels
- Masking Tape
Write the letters A, B, C, D, E, F and G on individual small, round labels. As an alternative, write them on pieces of masking tape or use small letter stickers.
Find the note middle "C" on the piano. This will serve as the starting point for your labeling. To find middle "C," locate the set of two black notes that is closest to the center of the keyboard. "C" is the first white key to the left of the pair.
Place the label onto the "C" key and continue labeling up the keyboard. Going left to right from C, the notes go D,E,F,G,A,B and repeat the cycle starting again at C.
Repeat the process of writing the letters and labeling the keys for the number of notes you wish to label on the keyboard.
Tip
The musical alphabet only contains the letters A through G and repeats itself every seven keys on the white keys only. The black keys are known as accidentals or flats/sharps. You can choose to label the black keys as well, but because they are narrower, it may be harder to affix a label. Labeling the white keys makes it possible to easily identify the black ones. For example, if you are looking for the note A sharp, find the A and look at the top, right black note. To find A flat, look to the top, left black note. This method is the same for each black note.
It may be helpful to locate a copy of a labeled piano keyboard before attaching the stickers. Many beginner piano books contain this information and it’s also available online.
References
- Louise Hill: Piano Teacher: White Plains, NY
Writer Bio
Sarah Schreiber has been writing since 2004, with professional experience in the nonprofit and educational sectors as well as small business. She now focuses on writing about travel, education and interior decorating and has been published on Trazzler and various other websites. Schreiber received a Bachelor of Arts in mass communications.
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