Chip Chick
I’ve wanted to master piano all my life, but I didn’t have access to a piano during quarantine. Now, though, I do!
And there’s even a ton of sheet music sitting around the house since my landlady is a choir director.
Problem solved, right? So, why am I still at a loss for where to begin?
I played instruments growing up and even dabbled in piano. But I always figured out songs by memorizing the hand movements or approximating the notes by ear.
I couldn’t, and still can’t, read the bass cleft (what the left hand plays), and you can only get so far with the treble cleft (notes the right hand plays).
But, eventually, I figured out a system that worked for me. Here’s how I did it:
Start with what you know: the alphabet.
What did I already know? The names of the keys, AKA, the letters A through G. You can find a diagram online to familiarize yourself; all it takes is knowing the name of one note and its corresponding white key.
I knew that the black keys were always either sharps or flats, depending on the key next to it. The sharp is the black key after a note, i.e., A sharp is the black key to A’s right. The flat is the black key on the note’s left.
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