The last piece of the puzzle before your first song. Two minutes, and sheet music stops looking like a secret code.
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Sheet music is really just a map — it tells you two things: which key to press, and how long to hold it. That's genuinely most of it. Here's the quick version of both.
Notes are written on a set of 5 lines called a staff. Piano music uses two of them stacked together — called a "grand staff" — one for each hand.
Where a note sits on the lines tells you which key to press — higher on the page means a higher-pitched key, lower on the page means a lower one.
The shape of a note tells you how many beats to hold it for. There are more note values than this, but these three cover the vast majority of what you'll see as a beginner:
Clap a slow, steady beat and count "1, 2, 3, 4" on repeat, evenly spaced. That steady pulse is exactly what note values are measured against — a quarter note lasts one clap, a half note lasts two. Once that feels natural, you're ready to match notes to counts.