Find any key, play the Moonlight shape

Lesson 1 · about 12 minutes · right hand only

The Moonlight Sonata begins with the right hand repeating one three-note shape, over and over, while the left hand holds a low note underneath.Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 14, Op. 27 No. 2, 1st movement, Adagio sostenuto. Score and recordings: IMSLP. If your hand knows that shape, you've learned the motion the whole opening is built on.

Today's win: find any white key by name without searching, then play the Moonlight shape B E G four times through with no mistakes, three runs in a row.

0 · Set up (1 min)

Connect the PSS-A50 to your Mac with its USB cable, and open this page in Chrome. Safari can't hear MIDI keyboards. If Chrome asks to allow MIDI devices, click Allow.
On the keyboard, set Octave to 0, and turn Sustain and Arpeggio off. The arpeggiator adds notes you didn't play, which would confuse the grader.
Check the grey status line on a drill below. It should say Keyboard connected. If it doesn't, you can still click the on-screen keys. The drill that's hearing you, usually the one in the middle of your screen, also says listening.

The drills grade you by note name only, so you can play the answer in any octave.

1 · The map: black keys tell you where you are

Do the drill below first, cold, with names hidden. Under two misses means you can skim this section.

Black keys come in alternating groups of two and three. Those groups are your landmarks:The same layout repeats across every piano and keyboard. See musictheory.net, "Steps and Accidentals", which also explains the black keys' ♯/♭ names.

C is the white key just left of the two black keys.
F is the white key just left of the three black keys.
The white keys then go up the alphabet, C D E F G A B, and start again at C. One full cycle is an octave.

The C's and F's are tinted on the map above. Click any key to hear it.Don't count up from C. Jump straight to the landmark nearest the note you want: D sits between the two black keys, E is right of them, B is right of the three. Then do the drill again, aiming for zero misses and under two seconds per note:

2 · The Moonlight shape

In Beethoven's original, the first bar's right hand plays G♯ C♯ E as triplets: three notes to each beat, repeated.Original key C♯ minor; see the first bar of any score on IMSLP. That uses black keys and needs a pedal. Easy arrangements move the whole piece to E minor,For example the Musicnotes simplified version and the Payhip easy version, both in E minor. where the same shape becomes B E G. All three are white keys.

Fingering 1–3–5 works too if your hand prefers it. Choose one and keep it, because a fixed fingering is what lets the shape become automatic.Your fingers are numbered from the thumb: 1 thumb, 2 index, 3 middle, 4 ring, 5 pinky. Pick a B near the middle of your keyboard and set your hand down:

Note	B	E	G
Finger	1	2	5

Leave your fingers resting on the three keys and don't lift them high. Count evenly, "one-and-a, two-and-a", one note per syllable, slower than feels necessary. Press ▶ Hear it first: that's the shape with a low E underneath, like the left hand will play in a later lesson.

A slip resets your streak. Three clean runs in a row is the goal. Once you get there, try one run without looking at your hand.

3 · Check yourself

Answer from memory, without scrolling up. Retrieving it yourself is what makes it stick.

4 · The next three days

Each of these takes 5 minutes. A short spaced repeat does more for long-term memory than one long session today.

Tomorrow: name drill with names hidden, then the shape (3 clean runs). Start without re-reading this page.
Day after: play the shape on the keyboard alone, without the screen, 8 times, eyes on the music stand.
Day 3: start the shape on a different B (one octave up or down). Then come back for lesson 2, where the left hand joins.

Primary source: listen before tomorrow Open Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 on IMSLP. Play a recording of the first movement and look at bar 1 of a score. Notice how the triplet shape keeps going while the chords underneath it change. That's what we're building toward.

Is anything unclear: the fingering, the counting, the drill not detecting your keyboard? Ask me. I'm your teacher, and questions are part of the lesson.

Reference: Keyboard map · Glossary · Next: Lesson 2: the left hand joins.