Piano

Two staves for two hands

Because both hands play, piano music has two staves one under the other, joined by a curly brace, known as the grand staff. The upper staff usually has the treble clef and belongs to the right hand, the lower usually has the bass clef and belongs to the left. That is the normal case, but only “usually”: the clefs can change, as the Kuhlau example shows.

Both lines above begin on the same note, C4, roughly in the middle of the keyboard. It links the two staves: in the treble clef it hangs below the lines, in the bass clef above them.

Sounds as written, and how wide the range is

The piano sounds as it is written. It is one of the instruments for which sound and notation correspond, unlike the guitar and the double bass, for example, which sound an octave lower. The standard keyboard has 88 keys:

A₂ to c⁵ in German counting and A0 to C8 in scientific notation describe the same range. The name “pianoforte”, or “piano” for short, recalls that on the hammer-action piano you can play loud and soft, unlike on the harpsichord.

The piano in the sheet music archive

In the archive you meet the piano in three roles: accompanying a song, accompanying with French labelling, and as a solo instrument. The word “Klavier” appears in the heading (“Gesang und Klavier”, voice and piano); in the score the instrument is labelled “Pianoforte.” or “Piano”:

Piano accompanies the singer

• Die Forelle Franz Schubert (1798–1828) · voice and piano · 5 pages

  Next to the brace of the piano part is “Pianoforte.”, and at the top line “Singstimme.” (voice). The piano part has treble clef above and bass clef below; five flats, 2/4 time, “Etwas lebhaft.” (somewhat lively), p in the first bar, “dim.” in the second, pp in the fourth. In both hands there are groups marked 6, sextuplets.

• Après un rêve Gabriel Fauré · voice and piano · 2 pages

  The labels are in French: “Chant” for the voice, “Piano” for the two piano staves with their brace. Three flats, 3/4 time, “Andantino”; the piano begins pp with repeated chords in the right hand, and the left hand is in bass clef.

Piano alone

• Sonatina in C major, 1st movement Friedrich Kuhlau (1786–1832), Three Sonatinas, op. 20 No. 1 · solo piano · 2 pages

  Two staves with a brace, no key signature, time signature C, “Allegro.”, p in the first bar. Both staves begin in treble clef. In the second line of the page the lower staff changes to bass clef in the middle of a bar.

Common mistakes

• Always reading the top staff as right hand and the bottom as left: That is true most of the time, not always; in the Kuhlau both staves begin in treble clef.
• Taking the C4 in the bass clef for a low C: On the ledger line above the bass-clef staff lies C4, not the C3 inside the staff.
• Treating the piano like the guitar or double bass: Both sound an octave lower than written, the piano does not.