Turn the staff to match the keys

On a staff higher notes go up, and on a keyboard they go to the right. Give the staff a quarter turn and both run in the same direction.

The staff and the keyboard point different ways

When you read music at the piano, the staff and the keyboard point in different directions. On the staff a higher note sits higher; on the keyboard the same note is further to the right. With every chord you read, your eyes move up while your hand moves sideways.

Experienced readers stop noticing this. Beginners, and anyone learning to read chords as shapes, have to make that switch on every note.

The practice screen in staff mode: a C major chord stacked vertically on the treble staff, and the same notes marked left to right on the keyboard below. — In normal notation C, E and G are stacked upwards on the staff but run to the right on the keys.

A quarter turn

Turn on Rotate the staff and the staff moves to the side of the screen, turned so that up becomes right. The lowest note of the chord is then on the left of the staff and on the left of the keyboard, so the notes are laid out the same way as the keys you play.

The practice screen with the staff turned a quarter and moved to the left: the three notes of C major now run left to right, like the three marked keys. — The same C major with the staff turned: on both, the notes go from low to high, left to right.

A phone with the turned staff under the chord name: the three notes of C major left to right, and the answer circles and keyboard below. — On a phone the turned staff appears under the question.

Use it as a temporary aid. Practice with the staff turned until you read chord shapes quickly, then turn it back and check how much of that speed you keep.

Where to find it

The setting is in Preferences, in the notation section next to the other staff options. It only has an effect when the question is shown on the staff. You can choose the angle: 90° is a quarter turn with the low notes on the left, and any value from −180° to 180° works if another tilt suits your eye better.

The rotation is one of your display settings, so it is never included when you share an exercise.

The Rotate the staff checkbox, ticked, and the rotation field set to 90 degrees. — A checkbox to turn it on and a field for the angle.

While the staff is turned, scale exercises show only the current chord instead of the whole scale.

Try it on the staff

Triads on the staff Turn the staff in Preferences, then come back here. Try it →Inversions on the staff Inversions change the shape while the notes stay the same, so the turned staff helps most here. Try it →Learning to read notation The reading course and other ways to display notes. Try it →The setting Preferences → notation. Try it →

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