From staff to keyboard

Black keys come in groups of two and three. C is always the white key immediately left of a group of two black keys. Find any C, then count up the alphabet: C D E F G A B C.

The same letter repeats every 8 white keys. The distance from one C to the next is an octave. Octave numbers tell them apart: middle C is C4; the B just below it is B3.

A half step (semitone) is the distance from one key to the very next key, black or white. A whole step (tone) is two half steps.

E–F and B–C have no black key between them, so they are half steps. Every other pair of neighbouring white keys is a whole step.

Fluent readers don't name every note. They read the distance between notes. Line-to-next-space (or space-to-next-line) is a step: the next letter. Line-to-next-line (or space-to-space) is a skip: skip one letter.

Start from a note you know (a landmark like middle C, treble G, or bass F), then read by steps and skips from there.

Piano music uses two staves joined by a brace: treble on top (right hand), bass below (left hand). Together they're the grand staff. Middle C sits between them. Read both staves at the same time, from left to right — notes vertically aligned are played together.