They realized that they could add other tones, in between the white tones. These extra keys were colored differently from the others and set apart slightly to distinguish them.
Starting with one black key, composers eventually discovered that there were five black keys that could be added to the original seven white keys. This made a total of seven white keys, and five black keys. This process took thousands of years, coming to its final, modern form during the Renaissance.
The Chinese have 5. The Hindus have The answer lies in the construction of the human hand, but to understand that we must first examine the keyboard itself. Imagine, if you will, an imaginary piano keyboard that has alternating white and black keys across the entire 5-foot length.
You can visualize this if you take a piece of paper or cardboard and hold it perpendicular to the keys, masking your view of the black keys. What do you see? A mass of white keys with no way of distinguishing exactly which white key is which. That is very exciting! Hello, Ms. Davidson's Science C class! We are so glad that you enjoyed today's Wonder!
How cool that you all are taking piano lessons! Join us again tomorrow to find out if your prediction was correct! What a great prediction from Ms. Davidson's Science A class! Check back tomorrow to find out if you were right. We think it is cool that you are learning to play the piano, Jeremiah! Hi, Jaylen! We think it is cool that you can play the piano, even if it is just a little bit. We think it is cool that you are getting a piano, London!
We are also glad that you enjoyed today's Wonder! We are so glad that you enjoyed today's Wonder, Christopher! Check back with us tomorrow to see if your prediction was correct!
Do you get to play it often? We think taking piano lessons sounds like fun! Check back with us tomorrow to see your prediction was correct! Happy Monday, to Ms.
These are all great Wonder questions to ponder! You may be interested in a few of our Wonders about sound. Wonder What Makes Sound Louder?
That is exciting to know that you have a famous pianist in your family! We think it would be fun and interesting to find out more about our ancestry! We are so glad that you learned something new today! Davidson's Science B class! Please check back with us tomorrow to see if your prediction was correct!
We are also glad that you liked today's video! Hi, Danessa! Keep in mind, though that you have to practice! We are so glad that you were able to learn something new today, Destiny! We hope that you get to play your Grandma's piano as much as possible!
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Follow Twitter Instagram Facebook. Why do pianos have 88 keys? What's the difference between the black and the white keys on a piano? How many of each color key are there on a piano?
Wonder What's Next? Try It Out Whew! Do you have a piano at home? If you don't, chances are that you might know someone who owns a piano. Many schools also have pianos in their music rooms. Your mission today, should you choose to accept it, is to find a piano and spend some time with it. Count the keys. Experiment with the low sounds and the high sounds.
If you know a simple song, try to play it. If you can get help from a music teacher or someone who knows how to play the piano, ask them to take you on a tour of the piano. Correct Posture When Playing the Piano.
Choosing an Instrument Grand or Upright? I much prefer the easy layout mentally which is significantly easier for arpeggios and jazz chords. Sign up to join this community.
The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Why are the white and black keys on the piano placed the way they are? Ask Question. Asked 10 years ago. Active 6 years, 7 months ago.
Viewed 27k times. I am pretty convinced it is not just for historical reasons. Improve this question. Community Bot 1. Ali Ali 1, 3 3 gold badges 11 11 silver badges 19 19 bronze badges. I think you should ask your new question about the diatonic scale separately. MatthewRead Done. Are you sure? Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Interesting question, although my answer might be more historical than you'd like ;- One answer is that it gives you all the notes of the diatonic scale on the white keys, so by transposing to C major you can play any major-key melody that doesn't modulate using only the white keys.
Improve this answer. There would be little point in demonstrating the various different keys if they all sounded alike. Well-tempered tunings render all scales playable as opposed to mean-tone tunings but not equal. The "well-tempered" tuning of Bach is likely one of the Werckmeister tunings or a variation thereof.
Stephen Stephen 2, 13 13 silver badges 19 19 bronze badges. What is optimal about this layout that musicians have stuck with it for so long?
It condenses reach. The semitones of the chromatic scale are actually closely spaced allowing for good reach. You can see how close the semitones are by covering the keyboard so that you only see the black keys and the white key sections between them.
The keyboard creates the illusion of width, since the the separation into five black keys and seven white ones creates more space for the fingers. It creates geometric shapes. Scales and chords on the piano keyboard have particular shapes, which are something like the geometric shapes on a string instrument with a fingerboard or fretboard.
These aid in fingering and memory. Diatonic mixtures of white and black keys, regardless of tonality, have a more or less even spacing. For instance, ascending diatonic triplets in any mode, starting on any key, are easy to play with three adjacent fingers. Contrast that with fingering several diatonic notes on a violin string, where the fingers have to precisely conform to the irregularity of the tone and semitone spacings. Fingerings in which the thumb and pinky are coupled to white keys, and some of the other fingers play black keys, nicely follow the curvature of the relaxed fingertips.
Seemingly odd fingerings can be efficient. For instance, I have a fingering in one Bach piece whereby my left pinky plays a white key, immediately followed by the ring finger playing the next lower black key! The fact that the black key is raised, together with my ring finger having a longer reach, makes this reversed fingering possible. Extend your left hand, palm down, and cross your ring finger over the pinky while pointing forward with the index finger.
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