# Why is the piano in the key of C? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 7, 2009, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-piano-in-the-key-of-c/484783 "2009-02-07T03:51:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-piano-in-the-key-of-c/484783/21 "2009-02-07T16:35:00Z")
> [@jragon](#): > > there are some pianos that have a “crank” to shift the entire piano changing the keys (meaning “c” may become “d” or “f#”), and if i had to guess there’s probably electronic keyboards that do the same nowadays for cheaper. > [@brepark](#): > > I’ve found that key signatures with more sharps or flats are much more easier to play in than the key of c. Actually the more sharps or flats, the easier it is to play. Due to a serious lack of performance chops, Irving Berlin had a transposing piano and used it to play everything in F#. He is quoted by [some hack writer](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2664/if-irving-berlin-could-not-read-or-write-music-how-did-he-compose) as saying, “The black keys are right there, under your fingers. The key of C is for people who study music.” ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-piano-in-the-key-of-c/484783/22 "2009-02-07T16:37:15Z")
> [@Turble](#): > > Something to think about: What key are you playing in if you play only the black keys? > > An interesting video: [Pentatonic Spriituals on the Black Keys](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMF_24cQqT0) > > There are transposing keyboards. There was a famous songwriter, can’t think of it right now (maybe Hoagy Carmichael) who always composed on the black keys. Irving Berlin - [The Master Speaketh](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2664/if-irving-berlin-could-not-read-or-write-music-how-did-he-compose) ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-piano-in-the-key-of-c/484783/23 "2009-02-07T17:07:20Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > There’s no law that says the guitar has to be tuned to those. And I never said there was a law that states that. Similarly, there is no law that says that a piano has to be tuned the way it is. It’s just most ‘common’. Which I believe is the word I used. I buy my guitar strings in packs of 6 and practically all of them are labelled E, A, D, G, B, E. It’s how most modern guitar songs are played - simply because it gives you access to the most amount of chords. It is considered ‘standard’ tuning. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-piano-in-the-key-of-c/484783/24 "2009-02-07T17:55:10Z")
> [@Brepark](#): > > Classical piano player chiming in here. I’ve found that key signatures with more sharps or flats are much more easier to play in than the key of C. Yeah, the B major scale, in particular, feels really good under the hands – when you run up the keyboard, it’s white, black, black, white, black, black, black, white, from B to B, and the thumb falls on the white notes, and the other fingers on the blacks, which pretty much naturally follows the shape of your hand. For similar reasons, the F blues scale (F, Ab, Bb, [B], C, Eb) particularly well-suited for blazing fast runs, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-piano-in-the-key-of-c/484783/25 "2009-02-07T23:51:33Z")
Thanks **jovan** , that’s the kind of answer I was expecting. I will curse the pipe organ next time I’m struggling to transpose a song. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-piano-in-the-key-of-c/484783/26 "2009-02-08T04:08:39Z")
> [@jovan](#): > > Eventually, the current layout seems to have been fixed in the 15th century. The size of the keys wasn’t normalized until much later. [Here’s a very nice](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DROr7_YH7eo) video of Bernard Foccroulle playing a 1688 organ; notice how small the keys are. Awesome answer. That Foccroulle guy, however, I want to punch him. Three boards AND feet. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-piano-in-the-key-of-c/484783/27 "2009-02-08T05:04:08Z")
> [@Deeg](#): > > Why is the piano in the key of C? See it’s like this, there’s no key of hear. ---
**Author:** ![Pseudocode](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/59ef9b/32.png) [@Pseudocode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pseudocode)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-piano-in-the-key-of-c/484783/28 "2009-02-08T07:03:50Z")
This discussion reminded me of the Continuum fingerboard, which you could use with a piano MIDI sound, I suppose. Here is [a short demo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mrmp2EaVChI), [some organ music](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-VMYyFXNg0), and [a great demonstration of how it works](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCM-WBqDZ-Q). ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-piano-in-the-key-of-c/484783/29 "2009-02-08T09:54:42Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > Awesome answer. > That Foccroulle guy, however, I want to punch him. Three boards AND feet. All in a day’s work for the competent organist (of which I am not one ☹ ). Interesting moment at about 6:20 when he hits _Swell to Great_ - on this instrument the _keys_ are mechanically slaved by the coupler. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-piano-in-the-key-of-c/484783/30 "2009-02-08T10:34:55Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > The more interesting questions I suppose are … “why is C the one with no sharps? Why not A?” But those are pretty tangential. Maybe a nitpick, and definitely a tangent, but I think the answer to this question is “it **is** A… Too.” The key of (“Natural”) A-\*\*\*minor \*\*\*is played, from A to A, on the white keys only. There’s nothing that says that Major keys are “the” keys to measure anything by or against. Also, “Middle A” (Above Middle C) is the standard note used in tuning (most commonly, [Middle A = 440 Hz](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_(music)#Standardized_pitch_.28A440.29) – pretty much universal nowadays, although different values were used in the past.) ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-piano-in-the-key-of-c/484783/31 "2009-02-08T11:01:43Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > The more interesting questions I suppose are “why didn’t we just letter from A - L and not have sharps and flats to distinguish strangely like this” or “why is C the one with no sharps? Why not A?” But those are pretty tangential. The system from which our scales and keys evolved was that of [hexachords](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexachord). Here, the bottom note was designated ‘gamma’, and then it began with A-B-C-… Note that this more or less coincides with the types of intruments **jovan** mentions. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-piano-in-the-key-of-c/484783/32 "2009-02-08T11:47:54Z")
To add a bit more on why C is C, the notion of writing pitches using letters goes back to ancient Greek musical notation. Greek musical theory made it to the middle ages mostly through the very abstract writings of [Boethius](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anicius_Manlius_Severinus_Boethius). Boethius, writing in latin, used the latin alphabet and presented a system where the first fifteen letters were used to describe the notes of two octaves. During the middle ages, this system was adjusted and interpreted in different ways. For instance, the 9th century musician [Hucbald](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hucbald) used the letters A-B-C-D-E-F to represent the notes from do to fa (C to A). His contemporary, [Odo of Cluny](http://faculty.uml.edu/CulturalStudies/compart/4med.html) instead took A to G for the notes la to sol, which is the system that survived. At the time of Odo, however, letters were the only way to write down a melody, so notes beyond the A-G compass were written with further letters, going as far as P, or by doubling letters: AA BB CC. In German B stands for B-flat and H stands for B-natural, so that the major C scale is: CDEFGAH. Of course, many languages use do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si, which doesn’t really imply an order to the notes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-piano-in-the-key-of-c/484783.md?page=1)