prepositions, prepositions...

Do you know how to play piano, or studied before?
Imagine: you're a pianist and you're playing right now.
You're sitting (near, at?) the piano.
you're supposed to sit (against, opposite?) the middle C.
While playing (on, no preposition?) (the) piano, you're looking (at, into, on?) the (book? music? score? sheet music?)
Thanks!

I'll check myself before a native (or just good) speaker answers.

You're sitting at the piano.
You're supposed to sit opposite the middle C.
While playing the piano, you're looking into the music book.

GREAT IDEAS !

You;re sitting at the piano.
You're supposed to sit in line with middle C.
While playing the piano, you're looking at the music.
- 'looking at' can be replaced with 'reading' , in which case you'd probably also substitute 'score' for 'music.

Ben.

Thank you Ben.

So, if somebody feigns that he's reading a newspaper,

«He isn't reading, he's just looking at [NOT into] the newspaper»

It that correct?

Yes, that's right, but it sounds funny because "looking at" implies he's paying attention to the newspaper. If you really wanted to say that, you would say "he's not reading it, he's just pretending to." or something similar.

Generally, you don't look "into" reading or viewing material -- you don't use "into" with books, magazines, newspapers, TV's, movie screens, etc. You "read", "watch", or "look at".

So you never "look into" a newspaper, whether you're really reading it or not.

I suppose I should add where you CAN use "look into" ---

You can look into a pond, lake, or other body of water (implies that you are actually bending over the surface, looking down into the water and at what lies below it;

You can look into the distance;

You can look into the future (or the past);

You can use "look into" as an idiom for "investigate":

"The police are looking into her death."

"My company is interested in expanding into a new market; I am looking into the costs and feasibility of that right now."

You can also use "look into" as a substitute for "plan" or "intend":

"I'm looking into getting a house next year." (Which implies that you are actually doing some research on that, not just wishing and hoping!)

Thank you veru much, Guest and Uriel.