Steps and skips on the staff, plus G position and middle C position

After this lesson you can tell a step from a skip on the staff, and play in G position and middle C position.

Reading note by note works, but it is slow. Good readers look at the shape of the music: does the next note move a little or a lot, up or down? This lesson adds the second basic shape, the skip, and two new hand positions, so you can read further up the treble staff and further down the bass staff.

Steps and skips

You already know the step: from a line to the next space, or a space to the next line. It moves to the next letter name, like C to D.

A skip moves from a line to the next line, or from a space to the next space. It jumps over one letter name. C to E is a skip (D is missed out). E to G is a skip (F is missed out). On the keyboard, a skip jumps over one white key.

Steps first (C D E: line, space, line), then skips (C E G B: line to line to line to line)

That second group shows something useful: skipping up from middle C takes you through E, G and B, each on a line. Skipping up from D would take you through the spaces: F, A, C. Lines skip to lines; spaces skip to spaces.

Once you can spot the difference, you can read a melody by its shape. If the first note is C and the next one is a skip up, you know it is E without having to name its line.

The new note B

B is the white key just to the right of a group of three black keys, and just to the left of C. On the treble staff, the B above treble G sits on the middle line. The landmarks still help: B is a skip up from G.

G position

In G position your right thumb moves up to treble G, and your five fingers cover G A B C D.

Right-hand G position: thumb (1) on treble G, little finger (5) on the D above

On the staff those five notes run from the second line (G) to the fourth line (D): G line, A space, B line, C space, D line. You can find each by stepping or skipping from G. The C here is the C an octave above middle C, in the third space.

Skipping in G, the Academy's G-position piece, uses skips like G to B and B to D, mixed with steps:

The first four bars of Skipping in G: skips up from G, then steps back down

Look at bar 1: G to B is a skip, B to D is another skip, D back to B is a skip down. Bar 2 starts with a skip (A to C), then steps down. Seeing that before you play makes the fingering obvious: skips use every other finger, 1-3-5.

Middle C position

In middle C position, both thumbs share middle C. The right hand covers C D E F G going up; the left hand covers C B A G F going down. Because the thumbs share one key, the hands take turns rather than playing at the same moment.

Middle C position: both thumbs on middle C, the left hand stretching down to F and the right hand up to G

For the left hand this brings two new bass notes. A below middle C sits on the top line of the bass staff, and B is just above it, in the space between the top line and middle C's ledger line. Both are easy to find by stepping down from middle C, or up from bass F.

How to practise

On the staff diagrams, point to each pair of neighbouring notes and say "step" or "skip" before naming them.
In C position, play C E G E, D F E D, C D E G, F E D C. Notice which moves are steps and which are skips.
Find B in three places on the keyboard. Then set your right thumb on treble G and play G A B C D and back.
Play the skip pattern G B D B G in G position, using fingers 1, 3, 5, 3, 1.
Read Skipping in G one bar at a time, deciding "step or skip" for every move before you play.
Try middle C position: right hand C D E F, then left hand C B A G, then right hand G F E D, then left hand F G A B, ending with a right-hand middle C.

Common mistakes

Mixing up B and C. They are neighbours with no black key between them. B comes straight after a group of three black keys; C comes just before a group of two.
Forgetting to move the hand. G position is a new place for the thumb. Set it before you start, not after the first wrong note.
Pressing middle C with both thumbs at once. In middle C position, only one thumb plays it at a time.
Reading every note by name. Name the first note, then follow the steps and skips. It is faster and more reliable.

The guide on how to read notes brings all the landmarks together on one page.

Try it in Pianuvo

The last lesson of Unit 2: Reading landmark notes mixes steps and skips in C position, sets up G position and middle C position, and builds to Skipping in G, which you can record and play back to check your evenness. It listens to the on-screen keys, a MIDI keyboard or your own piano through the microphone, and the quiz asks you to spot steps and skips by eye and by ear.