IMSLP Forums

I'm wondering why, on a standard piano, there are no black keys right above the notes B and E ? Why is it built/tuned this way?

B# = C
E# = F
------
Cb = B
Fb = E

The sharp does not actually mean a black key. It means a half step higher.
Just as the flat "b" means a half step lower.

If every white note alternated with a black note, it would be almost impossible to orient yourself at the keyboard by sight alone. The layout of keys gives a clear visual clue to the relative placement of notes.

The gap between E and F, and B and C, has been a semitone since before Guido of Arezzo’s formulation of the stave (based on the fingers of the hand) back in the 11th century; it’s a feature of the modal system that had already been in use for centuries at that point.

As for the “why”, you should go over to Wikipedia or somewhere and read about the modern development of equal temperament, which explicitly specifies the equivalence of enharmonic notes. You can have types of music where, for example, E# and F are slightly different notes, but most keyboards are simply not built to allow this: mostly expense and difficulty of fingering and tuning. For example, there have been keyboards with up to 37 keys to the octave which incorporated E# and B# keys, but these are exceedingly rare - they have never been “standard”.

Cheers PML