The Accordion Keyboard: a Free Online Music Lesson for Beginners

Video Transcript

"Now I would like to talk to you about some basic music theory, and it relates to the keyboard side of the instrument. You can apply this to pianos or any keyboard instrument. It is always the same. In music we have an alphabet that is short. It goes from A to G. Then it starts over again. We have no H, I, J, K, etc. Those letters do not exist in music. For example, here I have an A. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, then I start over again with A. Let me show you how to identify two of the notes on the keyboard, and from those using the alphabet, you can find the rest of the notes. You will notice that the black keys have a pattern of three, two, three, two, three, two, and this would also be three, but we simply ran out of keyboard. The longer the keyboard, just the longer the pattern of three and two. It does not matter. The white key that sits right in front of every group of two black keys is C. Here is a C. Here is a C. Two black keys, here is a C. Those are all Cs. The note sitting right in front of the group of three black keys is always F. Here is F. Here’s an F. Three black keys. Here’s an F, three black keys here’s an F, and like I said, this is really three black keys. Here’s an F. This works because music forms what we call octave. Just like octopus, the root word. Oct meaning eight. If you count eight starting at this F, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, you end up with another F. That’s an octave. F to F. Same with C to C. Octave, C, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. C to C, an octave. Once you can readily identify where a C is based on the two black keys, you can identify everything else. Just follow the alphabet. C, D, E, F (there’s that F next to the three black keys), G, A, B, and there is another C next to the two black keys. Next we will talk about how music theory applies to the bass side. "