Location of Notes on a Keyboard

The white notes are labeled C (on the base clef)
through C (on the treble clef)  

 

     The notes on the staff can be located on the piano. In the diagram at the right, the keyboard starts on C in the base clef. The white keys are the notes A through G that were discussed in yesterday's post. The black keys are either a half step up or a half step down from the note right next to it. These are called accidentals.

    If you are going up, the accidentals are called sharps (#). For instance, C# is the black key right above C. A# is the half step up from A and so on. Sometimes music likes to trick people by saying E# or B# when it really just means to play F or C. Sharps are a half step above the notes. Just like sharps, flats (♭) go a half step down. The most commonly used flats are B♭ , E♭, and A♭. The flats that go down and are still white keys are C♭ and F♭. C♭ is B and F♭ is E. This concept may seem strange at first but after a while, you get used to it.

    

Notes on the Staff

    The notes that appear on the staff are named A through G. After the notes go through G, the notes repeat back to A. There are two sections, called staffs, in the grand staff. There is the base clef and the treble clef. Each staff has five lines and four spaces.

    The treble clef is on the top. There are lines and spaces in the staff. The lines can be remembered with the scentence "Every good boy does fine (starting with E, G, B, D, and F at the top.)" Another way to remember the line names are using "Even George Bush drives fast." The spaces are remembered with "FACE." There are many ways that people remember the order of the lines and spaces.

     People use similar mneumonic devices in the base clef too. The note placement is different but still goes in alphabetical order. For the lines, the acronym, "Good boys do fine always," is popularly used. The spaces are commonly remembered as "All cows eat grass." The note that is placed in between the two staffs with a line is called middle C. The lines that go beyond the staff are called ledger lines.