Note names
The notes are named with seven letters, C, D, E, F, G, A and B, or with the solfège syllables do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si. After B comes C again, and the names repeat in every octave.
Start on C, the white key just left of a group of two black keys, and move right: C, D, E, F, G, A, B. The eighth key is C again, one octave higher. Seven names are enough for the whole keyboard.
In English the letters are the everyday names, and the syllables are used mostly for singing. In Lithuania, Russia, Germany and many other countries the syllables do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si are the names, and the letters differ in one place: B natural is written H, and B means B♭. Keep this in mind when you read music or chord letters from another country.
The black keys borrow their names from the white keys beside them: a sharp raises a note by a half step (C♯), a flat lowers it (D♭). The same black key has two names.
What it sounds like
The notes sound like the steps of a staircase, each one a little higher than the last. The final C sounds like the first, only higher, which is why they share a name.
Where it is taught: the studio’s interactive textbook, chapter 1, “The keyboard and your first notes” and chapter 5, “Half steps, whole steps and the black keys”.