The white piano keys are named after the letters of the musical alphabet, which are the same as the first seven (7) letters of the English alphabet: A B C D E F G. The first key on the piano is A, and the following keys are named accordingly. Following every G is another A, and thus the pattern is repeated all the way up the keyboard.

The black piano keys are accidentals: sharp or flat notes relative to the white keys. A black key to RIGHT of a white key is that white key's sharp. A black key to LEFT of a white key, is that white key's flat.

Musical keyboard

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Layout of a musical keyboard (three octaves shown)

A musical keyboard is the set of adjacent depressible levers or keys on a musical instrument, particularly the piano. Keyboards typically contain keys for playing the twelve notes of the Western musical scale, with a combination of larger, longer keys and smaller, shorter keys that repeats at the interval of an octave. Depressing a key on the keyboard causes the instrument to produce sounds, either by mechanically striking a string or tine (piano, electric piano, clavichord); plucking a string (harpsichord); causing air to flow through a pipe (organ); or strike a bell (carillon). On electric and electronic keyboards, depressing a key connects a circuit (Hammond organ, digital piano, synthesizer). Since the most commonly encountered keyboard instrument is the piano, the keyboard layout is often referred to as the "piano keyboard."