This Easter holiday, my family and I visited the Isle of Wight for the first time, staying for a week. Our main purpose was fossil hunting (we're all fossil geeks!), but of course, we also explored many lovely places on the island.

One of them was Carisbrooke Castle, where King Charles I was held before being executed in the Tower of London. The castle is full of history!

It was once owned by Princess Beatrice, the youngest child of Queen Victoria, who established a lovely museum on the castle grounds to commemorate the island’s history.

Among the many fascinating exhibits, there was a small organ made in 1602, described on the display board as “one of the oldest in Britain still in playing order.” This instrument was gifted by the people of the island to Princess Beatrice for her 80th birthday. Wow! Such a thoughtful gift!

I was absolutely fascinated by it. It has only 3 octaves and 8 notes (very small compared to a modern piano's 7 octaves and 4 extra notes). But the front of the keys is elegantly curved, with what appears to be a monogram — possibly of the organ's first owner, the Earl of Montrose.

What really amazed me was how the keyboard looked similar to modern-day keyboards, with groups of 2 and 3 protruding black keys, and 7 natural wood keys — the equivalent of today’s white keys. Then…

WAIT!!!

Modern pianos and other keyboard instruments have 5 protruding black keys (grouped into 2 and 3) and 7 white keys in each octave (C to C). But this 5-black/7-white color pattern only became standard in the 19th century. Earlier keyboard instruments — like older organs, clavichords, harpsichords, and even Mozart’s piano — had a reversed layout: 5 protruding white keys and 7 black keys.

So how did this 1602 organ already have the “modern” key layout, with protruding 5 black keys and 7 ‘wooden’ keys? If anyone knows, please message me!

If you're curious about the history of keyboard instruments, please check out my other article: ‘Very Brief History of Keyboard Instruments'

But, Why Are Piano Keys Arranged Like That?

Have you ever wondered why piano keys are organized in groups of 2 and 3 black keys with 7 white keys?

Apparently, this layout has been around since the 13th century. But why not make all keys white? Or black? Or evenly spaced?

Musically, each note is a semitone apart — the distance between any two adjacent keys (black or white) is equal in pitch ratio. For example, an octave is (almost) perfectly divided into 12 equal parts, and if you multiply a note’s frequency by 1.0594, you get the frequency of the next semitone.

So theoretically, the key layout could be any color or shape. But…

It’s All About Visual (and Physical) Ease

If all keys were the same color, musicians would find it hard to visually navigate the keyboard. Thanks to the groupings of 2 and 3 black keys, we can instantly identify certain notes — like each C, which is always just below the group of 2 black keys. It’s a clever design that has stood the test of time.

Why the Raised Black Keys?

Now, here’s where ergonomics come into play.

If all keys were the same size and shape, the distance between octaves (like C to C) would be too wide for one hand. If you made all keys narrower, fingers might hit neighboring keys accidentally. So, designers made the black keys narrower and slightly raised to prevent mis-hits — while keeping the white keys wide enough for comfort.

Also, the human hand played a big role. Our thumbs and pinkies are shorter, so starting a scale on a white key like C allows the longer fingers to naturally rest on the black keys — making movement smoother and more efficient.

My piano teacher at music college once told me that Chopin (known as a ‘poet of piano’ for his virtuosity and deeply expressive beautiful compositions of piano muic) loved practicing B major scale*, because it uses 5 black keys — a scale where the thumb starts on a white key (B) and the longer fingers land on the black keys comfortably. It’s great for hand shape and finger stretch, according to Chopin. I’ve taken that advice to heart and always include B major sclale in my warm-up routine!

So next time you sit at a piano, take a moment to appreciate the centuries of evolution behind its layout — and the strange little organ from 1602 that seems to have skipped ahead in time.

*A scale is a sequence of musical notes arranged in a specific order of pitch, typically ascending or descending.