Musical Alphabet

What is the musical alphabet?

The musical alphabet contains the seven letters from A through G. Each letter name represents a specific note. Naming each note builds a foundation for reading music, helps students master the musical alphabet, and fosters confident piano playing. 

Learning the musical alphabet develops music reading skills. Pianists identify note names using the musical alphabet, and identifying these note names supports note recognition. Practicing the musical alphabet through flashcards and printable sheets prepares students for music reading and understanding scales, chords, intervals, and more! 

Hoffman Academy’s Alphabet Towers game makes learning the musical alphabet fun! Our Alphabet Flashcards also reinforce alphabet fluency. 

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How many letters are in the musical alphabet?

The 7 letters A through G make up the musical alphabet. These letter names for notes repeat in higher and lower octaves. Each musical scale starts with a different letter of the musical alphabet. For example, C major starts with C and goes C D E F G A B.  Learning to order the letters of the musical alphabet starting on any letter enables confident playing of scales. 

How many notes are in the musical alphabet?

The musical alphabet has 7 notes. These notes repeat in every octave. On a piano, the musical alphabet begins with A as the lowest note and the sequence A to G repeats just over 7 times.  

How do sharps and flats relate to the musical alphabet?

Sharps and flats alter the pitches of the musical alphabet. A sharp raises a note by a half step and a flat lowers a note by a half step. The seven letters of the musical alphabet with no sharps or flats correspond to the white keys of the piano. (C, D, E, F, G, A, B is also our C major scale).

How do you learn the musical alphabet?

At Hoffman Academy, we teach the musical alphabet using flashcards to practice arranging the letters in order forwards and backwards. Students can also play our Alphabet Towers game to practice the musical alphabet. This game trains stacking the letters of the musical alphabet forwards, backwards, and in skips. Once a student learns the musical alphabet, Hoffman Academy’s Piano Street game helps them associate each letter of the musical alphabet to each note of the keyboard.

Memorizing the musical alphabet supports confident playing and keyboard literacy. Students who understand the musical alphabet will be better able to sight read and to understand scales, chords, arpeggios, and intervals. 

Transcript

Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman.
Today we're going to learn about the music alphabet
and how it relates to the piano.

Uh, excuse me, no offense, Mr. Hoffman,
but

I've know the alphabet since, well, before Kindergarten!

Don't worry, princess. The musical alphabet is a little bit different
from the regular alphabet you already know. Plus, in music,
you not only need to master the alphabet forward,
but backwards, and in skips.
These alphabet skills are the very important
but often overlooked foundation for excellent sight reading
of notes on the staff.

Oh! Okay.

It will make sense in no time.
Let's come and take a look at how it works.
I'm going to lay out the letters of the musical alphabet,
and as you see each letter, let's say it together:
A B C D E

Uh, Mr. Hoffman, this still looks like the regular alphabet.

I know. Just wait, we're getting there. F, G and then,
here's where things start to get different.
In music, the next letter after G is A. It starts over again.
There's no H in music.

Oh!

So, after A comes B again. Say it along with me:
C D E F G and then what comes next?

A!

That's right. A. And now I'm out of cards,
but on your piano though, the notes keep going higher and higher.
You see, every time you go up a letter that's the same as going up one note,
or one white key higher on your piano. Let me show you what I mean on my piano.

Now if you have an 88 key piano like me,
then your lowest key will be A. You hear how low that is.
And, the nice thing about the musical alphabet is,
it just follows every key on your piano, goes up one letter in the music alphabet.
So we ...