On my (accoustic) piano, the black keys are just as wide as the back ends of the white keys. This is achieved by shifting the position of the black keys a bit, instead of centering them right between the white keys.
I never understood why the piano keyboard isn't regular. It forces players to remember different positions for the same chord transposed to start at different notes.
Like why do I have to remember the shape for C major and D major chords? It should be the same shape just starting at C vs D.
It's not even that hard to fix. There's 12 semitones in an octave. Just make it 6 white 6 black keys.
That's a bit like complaining that there are six different kinds of chess pieces and you have to memorize how each moves. The truth is, if you have trouble remembering how a knight moves, you can't be that good at Chess anyway.
Remembering twelve different ways of playing a scale is a vastly small part of learning how to play a piano.
The geometric relationship between the note frequencies of a C major chord and a D major chord on the piano is not the same. The key of piece is responsible for some of its “feel”. So it’s not unreasonable that they have different “representations” on the piano although the differences may be subtle.
There are such things are Chromatic keyboards (for instance, the Chromatone synth had one), and there was the Janko piano keyboard and there are people that have made keyboards without the spaces in at the B/C and E/F at the back of the keyboard by alternating the white and the black keys such that those spaces just disappear.
The advantages are:
- you need less reach for the same chords
- transposition becomes trivial
The disadvantages are:
- your muscle memory will be invalidated
- the number of instruments set up like that is really small
- no accomplished pianist will want to switch
But if you really wanted to you could adapt an existing instrument to use a different keyboard and it isn't even all that complicated (medium complexity wood working project).
Except it would render a large swath of the repertoire from the common practice period (“classical music“) more difficult to play because it is written with the presumption that the keyboard is just so and that some future generations won’t try to optimize it.
The organization of the keyboard does necessitate certain fingering choices that are particular; but knowing this, composers have (usually) written in a way that respects that geometry.
I always thought the canonical way to place the black keys was to divide the octave in the two parts that have the sequential black keys (C-D-E and F-G-A-B), and then simply place the black keys so they're the same distance away from each other and the edge of the parts.
That means that the white keys in each of the groups have "mirrors": for example, C is a mirror of E, D is a mirror of itself (it's the only key like that), F is a mirror of B, and G is a mirror of A.
I just looked at the keyboards I have around me (a slightly-above-low-end digital piano, a small midi controller, and a small 90s synth), and they all seem to fit that description.
ETA: note that the image in the article doesn't fit this description: for example the D is way too narrow (the black keys around it should be much further apart).
ETA2: I just noticed that this seems to be the "B/12 solution" described in the article.
I guess I must be dumb or something, but I'm simply not seeing the problem.
Imagine the piano had only white keys, no problem right? Now just place the black keys at the back, between some of the white keys, right in the middle, such that each black key takes like a quarter of the width of the sandwiching white keys.
Now what's the problem with this again? Can someone explain in clearer terms?
If the issue is that we are trying to make the white key all have the same width at the back, well, why should that matter? Pianists don't press the white keys all the way at the back, do they?
That design you describe is what is pictured at the top of the article.
Problem is that then the keys are not equally spaced chromatically (e.g. larger spacing between B and C than between C and C#).
You could probably get used to play like that, but it would be ineficient in terms of space for both the fingers and the mechanics of the piano (hammers, strings).
So what you do, in reality, is move some of the black keys down a bit (C#, F#) and some up (Eb, Bb) so that the spacing between the center of the keys is regular.
I don't think that's what's described in the article though?
I suspect there is no such fussing about "back of white key widths" in actual piano design.
What's actually going on, when you look at any piano keyboard, is that the groups of black keys are given a substantially wider spread: they are not exactly centered on the dividing lines between the white keys.
What most likely matters to playability is the width of the black keys and this spread amount.
Now if you cover the front of the keys (e.g. put your fallboard felt over it) you can visualize the back of all the keys as a kind of barcode: alternating black and white strips, sometimes with two adjacent white strips. It so happens that these semitone strips do look about equal width, thanks to the sizing of the black keys and their spread. It might not be exact though.
A good starting configuration might be to start with a keyboard in which all the semitones are strips of equal width. Then we identify the C major keys, and paint them white, making the others black. Next, we shorten the black keys, and adjust the frontage of the white keys to be of equal width. Say, by keeping the division between every B and C exactly where it is and interpolating the others divisions. You will find that the E-F division does not fall exactly halfway between the surrounding black keys, Eb and F#. (That's what's observed on real piano keyboards!)
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[ 5.0 ms ] story [ 33.5 ms ] threadLike why do I have to remember the shape for C major and D major chords? It should be the same shape just starting at C vs D.
It's not even that hard to fix. There's 12 semitones in an octave. Just make it 6 white 6 black keys.
Remembering twelve different ways of playing a scale is a vastly small part of learning how to play a piano.
But for most music and musicians it isn't that interesting. Transposing is rather niche. If it's too hard, an electronic keyboard can do it for you.
The advantages are:
- you need less reach for the same chords
- transposition becomes trivial
The disadvantages are:
- your muscle memory will be invalidated
- the number of instruments set up like that is really small
- no accomplished pianist will want to switch
But if you really wanted to you could adapt an existing instrument to use a different keyboard and it isn't even all that complicated (medium complexity wood working project).
Except it would render a large swath of the repertoire from the common practice period (“classical music“) more difficult to play because it is written with the presumption that the keyboard is just so and that some future generations won’t try to optimize it.
The organization of the keyboard does necessitate certain fingering choices that are particular; but knowing this, composers have (usually) written in a way that respects that geometry.
That means that the white keys in each of the groups have "mirrors": for example, C is a mirror of E, D is a mirror of itself (it's the only key like that), F is a mirror of B, and G is a mirror of A.
I just looked at the keyboards I have around me (a slightly-above-low-end digital piano, a small midi controller, and a small 90s synth), and they all seem to fit that description.
ETA: note that the image in the article doesn't fit this description: for example the D is way too narrow (the black keys around it should be much further apart).
ETA2: I just noticed that this seems to be the "B/12 solution" described in the article.
Imagine the piano had only white keys, no problem right? Now just place the black keys at the back, between some of the white keys, right in the middle, such that each black key takes like a quarter of the width of the sandwiching white keys.
Now what's the problem with this again? Can someone explain in clearer terms?
If the issue is that we are trying to make the white key all have the same width at the back, well, why should that matter? Pianists don't press the white keys all the way at the back, do they?
Problem is that then the keys are not equally spaced chromatically (e.g. larger spacing between B and C than between C and C#).
You could probably get used to play like that, but it would be ineficient in terms of space for both the fingers and the mechanics of the piano (hammers, strings).
So what you do, in reality, is move some of the black keys down a bit (C#, F#) and some up (Eb, Bb) so that the spacing between the center of the keys is regular.
I don't think that's what's described in the article though?
I wish the page had pictures for the proposed widths of the buttons
What's actually going on, when you look at any piano keyboard, is that the groups of black keys are given a substantially wider spread: they are not exactly centered on the dividing lines between the white keys.
What most likely matters to playability is the width of the black keys and this spread amount.
Now if you cover the front of the keys (e.g. put your fallboard felt over it) you can visualize the back of all the keys as a kind of barcode: alternating black and white strips, sometimes with two adjacent white strips. It so happens that these semitone strips do look about equal width, thanks to the sizing of the black keys and their spread. It might not be exact though.
A good starting configuration might be to start with a keyboard in which all the semitones are strips of equal width. Then we identify the C major keys, and paint them white, making the others black. Next, we shorten the black keys, and adjust the frontage of the white keys to be of equal width. Say, by keeping the division between every B and C exactly where it is and interpolating the others divisions. You will find that the E-F division does not fall exactly halfway between the surrounding black keys, Eb and F#. (That's what's observed on real piano keyboards!)