Learn to read the piano notes.

A musician who can't read sheet music is like a person who can't read a book. It is possible to play music quite well without being able to read it, just as it is possible to speak English without being able to read. In either case, the person who can't read misses out on part of the experience. Learning to read music can help you better understand music theory and enable you to play music you've never heard before.

A piece of piano music will typically have two connected staffs, one above the other. A staff is a set of five lines which run across the page on which the notes are written. The pianist will read and play both staffs simultaneously. The first symbol written on the upper staff is the treble clef. It looks like a fancy letter G. The clef enables you to determine what note corresponds to a given a line or space on the staff. The notes on the treble clef are typically played with the right hand on the piano. The names of the five lines of the treble clef staff are from bottom to top, E, G, B, D, F. The spaces between the lines, from bottom to top are F, A, C, E.

The first symbol written on the lower staff is the bass clef. It looks like a fancy letter F. The notes on the bass clef are typically played with the left hand on the piano. The five lines of the bass clef, from bottom to top are G, B, D, F, A, and the spaces are, from bottom to top A, C, E, G.

Putting the staffs together looks something like this:

|------------------------------------------F-------
| E
|--------------------------------------D-----------
| C
|----------------------------------B---------------
| A
|------------------------------G-------------------
| F
|--------------------------E-----------------------
| (D)
| --(C)--
| (B)
|------------------A-------------------------------
| G
|--------------F-----------------------------------
| E
|----------D---------------------------------------
| C
|------B-------------------------------------------
| A
|--G-----------------------------------------------


When the bass and treble staffs are shown connected, we call the whole unit the "grand staff." The three notes in parentheses are the notes that are between the bass and treble clefs. The C is referred to as "middle C" because it is the middle of the grand staff. To find middle C on the piano, find the grouping of two black keys that is nearest the center of the keyboard. Middle C is the white key just to the left of the group of two black keys.

This is a very rudimentary overview to help you learn to read music. Piano music can be very involved and exciting, so I encourage further exploration of music notation and music theory in general.