Unit 1: Keyboard Geography
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Sit like a pianist
Posture, hand shape and relaxed arms
Set up your seat
Sit on the front half of the bench, facing Middle C, with your feet flat. Move the bench back until your elbows are slightly in front of your body and your forearms are level with the keys.
A round hand
Let your arms hang, then lift your hands onto the keys without changing their shape. Fingers stay curved, as if holding a small ball, and you play on the fingertips. The thumb plays on its side.
Loose wrists, heavy arms
Tension is the enemy of speed. Keep your shoulders down and your wrists level and soft, and let the weight of your arm do the work. If anything aches, stop, shake it out and start again.
Meet the keys
Black-key groups, the note C and Middle C
Groups of two and three
The black keys come in groups of two and three. They are your map: every white key is named by where it sits next to them.
This is C
C is the white key just to the left of every group of two black keys.
Middle C
The C closest to the middle of your piano is Middle C. It is home base for everything you will learn.
D, E and finger numbers
Two new notes and the numbers for your fingers
Finger numbers
Your fingers are numbered 1 to 5 on both hands: thumbs are 1, pinkies are 5. Music uses these numbers to tell you which finger to use.
D and E
D sits between the two black keys. E sits just to the right of them.
F, G, A and B
The rest of the musical alphabet
The musical alphabet
Piano uses just seven letters: A B C D E F G, then they repeat. Moving right, the letters go up.
Around the three black keys
F is just left of the group of three. G and A sit inside the group, and B is at its right edge.
Five fingers, five keys
C position for both hands
Right hand C position
Right thumb on Middle C, then fingers 2, 3, 4, 5 on D, E, F and G. One finger per key, so you never have to look.
Left hand C position
Left pinky (5) on the C below Middle C, left thumb (1) on G. The numbers run the other way on this hand.
Your first tune
Hot Cross Buns with three fingers
Three notes, one song
Hot Cross Buns uses only E, D and C: fingers 3, 2, 1. Set your right hand in C position first.
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