To begin the first lesson, I ask the student to identify a pattern on the piano. If he needs help, a good hint is to note the black keys. I have heard many good responses, but the response that I’m looking for is “two-three-two-three…” With those black keys, they play only the groups of two, then the groups of three, counting the groups. The purpose is to develop confidence throughout the keyboard. In my younger years, I began teaching at Middle C as the books do, but I realized that students then become afraid to play with and experiment with the higher and lower keys.
We give names to these groups. More often than not, Chopsticks, and Forks are the names because the two black keys look like chopsticks and because the beginning white note of the Chopsticks group is C. Same goes for Forks: F. You can try other names for the groups. One student suggested “Twix” and “Oreo.” I thought that might be confusing for many reasons, but she never had a problem with her mnemonic.
He finds all the Cs on the keyboard, then all the Fs.
The student then recites the musical alphabet on his own, “ABCDEFG.” He plays all the white keys in order while reciting, “ABCDEFG.” Every once in a while, I point out that the C lands just before the “Chopsticks,” and the F just before the “Forks.”
That was the easy part!
I ask the student to play the white keys backward, reciting the letter names, “GFEDCBA.” This helps in calculation of the notes when the student begins reading music, especially in the Bass clef. Why the Bass clef? Because the F of the Bass clef is at the top of the five-lined staff, so to calculate the notes, one must think backward, which is why many students claim to “not know the Bass clef.”
When he becomes more proficient with naming the white keys backward, I teach naming the keys in intervals, thirds, fourths, and fifths, that is, skipping one note, then two, then three. For example, the interval of a third would be from A to C (B is skipped). Along the keyboard, it would be:
ACEGBDFACEGBDFA… then backward AFDBGECAFDBGECA.
This won’t take but couple of lessons as it is required daily practice. The student will be able to do this without stumbling. (Note: Music Theory also takes into consideration the quality of the interval, that is, major, minor, perfect, &c. Because the student is in his beginning stages, I do not introduce quality at this time. Becoming acquainted with the white keys is the goal of these first lessons.)
After a few years of music lessons, a student will be prepared for interval qualities, chord building and progression, harmonic analysis, and all trimmings of composition and sight reading. The exercises of reciting and playing the keys will have molded his skills.
