[Menvi-discuss] Piano Geography

[Lee Strickland]

Hi David,

I am teaching an adult in Australia how has lost her sight in recent years.
I’ve given her lots of O&M exercises to help navigate her way on the piano.
I absolutely love your Part 1 you emailed!

Looking forward to reading Part 2 :) yanks so much for sharing!

Warm regards,
Lee Strickland
Dotted Beats

On Thu, 16 Sep 2021 at 5:40 am, David Pinto via Menvi-discuss <
menvi-discuss at menvi.org> wrote:

> Hi Samantha,
>
>
>
> Below, is Part 1 of my article on teaching the blind to easily navigate on
> the piano keyboard.  The steps start with the assumption that the student
> is new to the piano keyboard. Let me know when you want Part 2.
>
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
> David Pinto
>
> Director AMB
>
>
>
> *NAVIGATING THE PIANO KEYBOARD*
>
> *PART 1*
>
> The piano keys are divided into 2 groups: the white keys and the black
> keys. The white keys are the smooth keys you can run your fingers over
> without feeling big bumps. And the black keys are the big bumps above the
> white keys.
>
> The black keys are ordered into clumps of 2 black keys and clumps of 3
> black keys. Each clump is separated from the next clump by 2 white keys.
> One can find any particular black key by their location in a clump of 2, or
> clump of 3 black keys. And, you can find any white key by its position in
> relation to the clump of 2 or 3 black keys. These groups of 2 and 3 black
> keys alternate in a fixed regular pattern.  The fact is, if there were no
> black keys, the piano keyboard would be a smooth featureless series of
> white keys that would be impossible to orient to, with or without eyes.
>
> The following exercises will teach you how to identify the groups of 2 and
> 3 black keys.  Then, in Part 2, you will learn how to identify the names of
> the white keys in relation these groups of 2 and 3 black keys. We will
> begin by doing the exercises only with the right hand.
>
> 1. Run your right hand's fingers over the black keys. Don't use your
> thumb. Just feel the keys with your other fingers.  At this point, it
> doesn't matter which fingers you use. Just don't use your thumb on the
> black keys. Start at the left side of the piano keyboard (that’s called the
> bottom of the keyboard) and swipe your fingers all the way to the right
> side of the piano (that's called the top of the piano). Feel like you’re
> wiping across the black key bumps in order to clean them of dust. You don't
> have to get sound from the keys.  Just swipe over them in one continuous
> motion from left to right.
>
> 2. Now, do this again slowly, but this time notice that periodically there
> will be larger spaces between some of the black keys. Finding these gaps is
> the first key to orienting yourself on the piano keyboard.
>
> 3. Swipe across the piano again, but when you reach that larger gap, feel
> the white keys in that gap.
>
> 4. You will see that there are actually 2 white keys in those gaps. You
> see, between adjacent black keys, there is either one white key, or two
> white keys.  So, your task is to become proficient at finding all the gaps
> that contain 2 white keys. So, once again run your right hand’s fingers
> across the black keys, from the bottom to the top of the keyboard. But,
> when you come to the gaps, actually feel the 2 white keys and press them
> down to make a sound. When you do this, say out loud "2 white keys".
>
> 5. OK, once you're proficient at that, you should also learn to press down
> the single white key that is between the other black keys. All you have to
> do is feel a black key, then move a little to the right, and there will be
> either 2 white keys, or one white key. You should also speak aloud when you
> press a black key, a white key, or the 2 white keys that are in the gap.
> When you do that, you will actually be playing every single note on the
> piano. Go ahead and do it.
>
> 6. Now, once you have done that, you will have noticed that sometimes it
> takes going across 3 black keys to reach the gap of 2 white keys, and
> sometimes it takes only 2 black keys to reach the gap of 2 white keys. So,
> do the exercise again, but this time count the black keys. The first black
> key of any black key group will be called number 1. It’s the first black
> key after a gap of 2 white keys. So, if you are at a group of 3 black keys,
> the exercise will sound like this when you start at a group of 3 black
> keys:
>
> Black 1, white, black 2, white,  black 3, 2 whites. Black 1, white, black
> 2, 2 whites. Black 1, white, black 2, white, black 3, 2 whites. Black 1,
> white, black 2, 2 whites. Etc.
>
> 7. Now it’s time to play all 3 black keys in the group of 3, all at the
> same time. And, also play both of the 2 black keys in the group of 2 at the
> same time.  Just press the 3 black keys down and say, "3 black keys". Then
> play the 2 white keys in the gap at the right and say, "2 white keys".
> Then do the same with the group of 2 black keys.  Press them down at the
> same time, saying "2 black keys", and then play the 2 white keys in the gap
> at the right, and say "2 white keys".  Do this from the bottom of the piano
> all the way to the top.  Before doing that, there’s one thing you should be
> aware of. Most piano keyboards do not start out with a full group of 2 or 3
> black keys.  They usually start off with a truncated group of 2 or 3 black
> keys.  For instance, the first black key on a full 88 note keyboard is
> actually the third black key of a group of 3.  So, it’s one lonely black
> key followed by the gap of 2 white keys. OK, with that in mind, you won’t
> get too confused by the odd beginning at the bottom of the keyboard. So, go
> ahead and play the groups of 2 and 3 black keys and the also 2 white keys
> in all the gaps.
>
> 8. Now that you're proficient at that, you are ready to identify the
> groups of 2 and 3 black keys without having to play the white key gaps.
> Just play the groups of 2 black keys, followed by the groups of 3 black
> keys. So ahead, play them and say aloud, "3 black keys, 2 black keys, 3
> black keys, 2 black keys" etc.
>
> 9. Now that you can do that, just play the groups of 2 black keys. That
> means you will merely run your fingers over the 3 black keys and not press
> them down.  Just play the 2 black keys while you say "2 black keys"
>
> 10. Now just play the groups of 3 black keys. You will only run your
> fingers over the 2 black keys and not press them down.  Only play the 3
> black keys while you say "3 black keys"
>
> 11.  Now that you have learned how to do that with your right hand, do all
> the exercises above with your left hand, until it is just as proficient.
>
>
>
> That’s it. Now with both you’re right and left hands proficient at
> identifying the groups of 2 and 3 black keys, you are ready to find and
> name all the white keys on the keyboard solely by their position relative
> to the groups of 2 and 3 black keys.
>
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
> David Pinto
>
> Academy of Music for the Blind
>
>
>
> *From:* Menvi-discuss <menvi-discuss-bounces at menvi.org> *On Behalf Of *Samantha
> Perez via Menvi-discuss
> *Sent:* Wednesday, September 15, 2021 7:00 AM
> *To:* menvi-discuss at menvi.org
> *Cc:* Samantha Perez <samani.perez at gmail.com>
> *Subject:* [Menvi-discuss] Piano Geography
>
>
>
>   Hello everyone, this is Samantha Perez. How do you learn the layout of
> the piano keyboard without looking at where the keys are? Also, are their
> any exercises to get better at this? Any help would be appreciated. Thank
> you!
>
>      Samantha Perez
> ---------
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-- 
Warm regards,
Lee Strickland

Dotted Beats
[image: image.png]
Music Tuition and Mentoring:
Multiple Disabilities and Vision Impairment
P:  0428 697 370
E:  dottedbeats at gmail.com
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