The course › Unit 2: The notes of the keyboard
Lesson 11 of 72 · The center of the keyboard, and the same note at every height
Middle C is the C closest to the middle of the keyboard, usually right in front of the piano’s brand name. It’s the starting point for reading music, and both your right hand and your left hand are organized around it.
Its full name is C4: it’s the fourth C from the bottom of a full-size piano. The C above it is C5, the one below it is C3. In this course, we’ll mostly just say “middle C”.
Middle C, and the other Cs, one and two octaves away.
From one C to the next, there are eight white keys (C D E F G A B C): that’s an octave (from the Latin octo, eight).
Two notes an octave apart have the same name and blend perfectly together: one is simply higher.
Did you know?: When you go up an octave, the string vibrates twice as fast. That’s why the two notes match so well.
This time, you need the exact C asked for.
The notes just around middle C: above is to the right; below, to the left.
The same phrase at two heights: your hands answer each other at the octave. The right hand plays a phrase around the C above middle C, and the left hand repeats it two octaves lower.
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