I suppose it makes historical sense, and even ingeniously designed.

But it, and the piano black keys with it, are definitely not optimal. It makes playing in C easy, and playing in anything else hard. I've picked up a new instrument since ~2 months, and 1 month in I could already play all scales by by deliberately staying away from music notation, learning the raw distances/steps that make up a scale and how to play them, rather than the 'delta from C', which is how classical training taught me to think. (Same story for chords etc)

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BalinKing an hour ago | parent | next [-]

> But it, and the piano black keys with it, are definitely not optimal. It makes playing in C easy, and playing in anything else hard.

I don't think this is true—I was under the impression that, at least on piano, keys other than C major are sometimes chosen specifically to make things easier on the fingers.

	▲	jaggirs an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Easier on the fingers - maybe (I don't know what you reference), but not easier on the mind: Instead of learning each chord once, you have to learn it 12 times (for each key). See http://terpstrakeyboard.com/about/

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PaulDavisThe1st 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I have some great news: you're a nerd ! :))

... or is it geek, i can never remember the difference ...