Music theory Your instrument
Piano and keyboards
How the piano makes sound, the grand stave, finger numbers 1 to 5, the three pedals and the first theory a pianist needs.
Practise this on its own page: Piano keys, Scale player.
How the piano makes sound
Inside a piano are wire strings. When you press a key, a felt-covered hammer strikes the strings and makes them sound.
A standard modern piano has 88 keys, covering just over seven octaves.
Finding your way around the keys
The black keys are arranged in groups of two and three, and this pattern repeats all the way along. C is the white key just left of each group of two black keys, and F is the white key just left of each group of three.
Middle C is C4 in octave numbering. Find it near the middle of the keyboard and use it as your landmark.
Reading the grand stave
Piano music is written on the grand stave (grand staff): a treble stave above a bass stave, joined by a brace. Middle C sits on a ledger line between the two staves.
The treble stave shows the higher notes and the bass stave shows the lower notes. Learning both clefs early makes piano reading much easier.
Finger numbers
Piano music often has small numbers above or below the notes. These are finger numbers: 1 is the thumb and 5 is the little finger, on both the right and the left hand.
Printed fingerings are a sensible starting point, but your teacher may suggest a different fingering that suits your hand better.
The three pedals
- Not every piano has all three. Some leave out the sostenuto pedal or give the middle pedal another job, such as a practice mute.
| Pedal | Name | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Right | Damper or sustain pedal | Lifts the dampers so notes keep ringing after you let go of the keys |
| Middle | Sostenuto pedal | Holds only the notes already pressed when the pedal goes down |
| Left | Soft pedal (una corda) | Changes the tone colour, not just the volume, for a softer sound |
Practice tips
General tips teachers often give:
- Short, regular practice usually works better than one long session a week.
- Learn new pieces slowly and accurately first, then build up speed.
- Try tricky passages one hand at a time before putting hands together.
- Once a scale is comfortable with hands separately, play it with hands an octave apart, starting with two octaves.