Beginning piano students must learn to memorize the notes on the staff and not simply calculate the distances between them, says London Piano Institute.
Celine Gaurier-Joubert, founder of London Piano Institute, observes that a major problem for beginners is learning to calculate the distances between notes without having to mentally count as one would do simple arithmetic or use the alphabet. For instance, reports London Piano Institute, students know that to get from C to G on the alphabet, one would alphabetically calculate C-D-E-F-G to find the G note, which is five steps. The same applies to music, and even the same term “step” is used.