How will I ever learn ALL those keys?

When I was in grade school, I went to Girl Scout Horseback Riding Camp for a week. We played a game that helped us learn everybody's name. The game was simple...we had to think of a food that started with the same letter as our first name. That's how I got one of MANY nicknames that I would be called over the years: Beef!

BEEF? Really that's the only food that I could think of that started with the letter B?? I could have been "Becky Banana," Becky Bean," Becky Bacon (mmm!), Becky Brussle Sprout...come to think of it, Brussle Sprout is a cute name and probably describes me more accurately that the word BEEF. ;) But, for that week, at least, I was known as "Becky Beef."

Most of us tend to learn better by creating associations (like the one I described above) or using analogies. Another way we learn is by grouping things together or looking for patterns. Think of phone numbers (for those of you that lived before the age of cell phones when numbers weren't stored in your phone, this will make more sense).;p Rather than try to memorize 7 random digits 3627451, it's easier to memorize them if you break it into 2 groups: 362-7451. Try the following exercise...Do you recognize the pattern?

Ok, so the pattern is 2 CDs, 3 football field goals, repeated over and over. If you recognized this pattern, then you have the ability to understand the piano keyboard! Maybe you've ever looked at the piano keyboard and thought…

"How will I ever learn what ALL 88 of those keys mean?!

Well, let's take a closer look at the piano keyboard...What pattern do you see here?

If you said, 2 black keys then 3 black keys repeated over and over, then CONGRATULATIONS! You're on your way to becoming a piano master! Okay, maybe that's a ways off, but you have recognized a very important fact about the piano keyboard that will make your life of learning to play the piano SO much easier!

Stay tuned for my next article about how recognizing those black-key groups & even how the CD's and Football Field Goals can help you know every white key name on the piano!

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