Playing Music with Each Hand

You just played a simple melody with one hand.

Like many piano songs, Twinkle, Twinkle is often played with both hands. You're about to start playing real sheet music, one hand at a time.

When you click on the lesson above, you'll start with the right-hand sheet music, and then move on to the left-hand sheet music.

For now, it's helpful to think of the two "clefs" this way:

• Treble Clef high notes, played with the right hand
• Bsss Clef low notes, played with the left hand

You'll usually see them stacked on top of each other in sheet music, with the treble clef on top and the bass clef on the bottom.

In many beginner songs (like this one), your right and left hand are one octave apart.

An octave, on the piano, is each group of repeating keys. That's 7 white + 5 black keys, or 12 notes total.

That's why we use the different clefs: they tell you which octave(s) you're playing. Unfortunately, the notes are located is slightly different positions depending on which clef you're using.

For this play session, we'll use just the left hand.

Even advanced players often choose to practice each hand separately first when they learn songs. This gives the brain the opportunity to understand each half before trying to do both at once. We want each hand to feel smooth and comfortable on its own, first.