The fifth line The lines and spaces are numbered from bottom to top, with the bottom line being the first and the top line being the fifth. Thus, the fifth line is the highest; it is also called the crown of the staff. A mark that appears at the beginning of some lines but not others is called a furrow or gutter. These marks can be seen on some old manuscripts and indicate where the words broke off on the page. Sometimes when writing by hand the ink would leak down into the gutter where it could be cleaned out.
The name "staff" comes from the fact that it was once made up of two pieces of wood glued together. It is now usually made of metal, although wood is again used in some modern instruments.
In music, the term "staff" refers to any one of several devices used to represent musical notes. They include the typewriter keyboard, the piano keyboard, the harpsichord keybed, and the pipe organ. Each staff has a number of different parts, or lines, that are important in reading music. The lines can be horizontal (as on a treble clef) or vertical (as on a bass clef). Some instruments have both types of clef placed on them.
The musical staff is akin to a mathematical graph of pitch vs time. The vertical location of notes on the staff indicates their pitch, and notes are played from left to right. Notes above the staff are high-pitched, those below are low-pitched.
The term "line" refers to any single path that you take through the music as you play it. The word can also refer to the horizontal space between two notes, whether they are played simultaneously or not. A note's position on the staff determines which line it belongs to. For example, the second note played in a measure is always on the third line, because it falls after the first note in the measure but before the fourth note in the measure.
Notes that cross over multiple lines are called "bracketed notes." For example, if the second note in a measure is followed by a quarter note then there will be three lines involved: the first line (where the half note starts), the second line (where it ends and the quarter begins), and the third line (where it ends).
It is important to understand that notes belong to more than one line at a time. If a note has an accent mark (for example, if it is doubled) then it tells the player not to release the key until the next note has been played.
You are free to use any one you like. Lines are tallied from the bottom of the staff to the top. The first line is the bottom line, and the fifth line is the top line. In this clef, the notes for the gaps are F-A-C-E. It clearly spells "face" and is simple to recall. Another popular choice is P-G-R-O. This means "pigeon" and is an easy sequence to remember.
The most common lines are the bass (or base) line and the tenor (or second-highest) line. These lines usually contain the lowest-pitched instruments, such as a bass guitar or a cello, and the highest-pitched ones, such as a tenor saxophone or a trumpet. Other instruments may be included in the bass or tenor lines depending on the style of music. For example, a violinist would be included in the bass line because of its low pitch. A guitarist could be included in either line because of its high pitch.
In a concert band, all instruments play at the same time, so there's no such thing as a lead instrument or a follow instrument. Every member of the band plays together, which is why bands often have a name that describes this aspect of their sound - e.g., big band, swing band, rock 'n' roll band.
In a large orchestra, different parts can be played by different groups of musicians.
Each clef's lines and gaps symbolize various notes. As a result, the first line of the treble clef represents the note "E," the second line represents "G," the third line represents "B," the fourth line represents "D," and the top (or fifth) line represents "F." The bass clef's lines also represent notes, but they do so in relation to the player's hand position. The first string is "C" because it's reached with the left hand, while the second string is "G" because it's reached with the right hand. The remaining strings are "E" then "D" then "A" then "E" again.
Thus, the note pattern for the bass clef is "C-G-E-D-F-C". You can see this by counting the holes between the lines or using an electronic tuner.
The term "staff" refers to the horizontal array of lines and spaces that make up the clefs. There are four types of staves: piano, harpsichord, organ, and guitar. Each has its own special notation that we'll discuss later. For now, know that all music is written on a staff. Even if you're not playing an instrument, you still understand pitch because it's very important in writing lyrics and songs.
Pitch is the rate at which sound waves oscillate when they reach the ear.
The five lines are labeled as follows, from bottom to top: E, G, B, D, and F. Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge is the abbreviation for the treble clef lines. The notes in music notation are called pitch classes because they classify or identify a note as being one of certain sounds (or tones). There are several ways to notate the same pitch class on a string instrument. On the guitar, these include the standard tuning system and half-tuning.
In standard tuning, the open strings are E, G, B, and D. To indicate that the string is played in tune, the symbol # is used instead. For example, if the guitar was tuned with the low E string unplugged, then the text "E#" would be written on the case next to that string. Abbreviations such as "Eo" (for "eoless"), "Ge" ("guitar easy"), "Gb" ("guitar better") appear on some guitars to indicate how to tune them. Half-tuned instruments have their lowest pitched string tuned an octave higher than it is on a standard instrument—in this case, G rather than E. Thus, the text "Gm" indicates that the guitar is half-tuned and plays its lowest note as a G.
Five lines of text The stave (or staff) serves as the framework for drawing notes. The contemporary staff is made up of five lines and four spaces. The contemporary stave is made up of five lines and four spaces. Each line or space on the staff corresponds to a white key on the keyboard. The first note that is played or sung using these instructions should be marked with the letter "C.".
The term "line" refers to the vertical position of the staff, while the term "space" refers to the horizontal distance between two notes. A line can have from one to five notes, depending on how many keys are raised on the piano. Spaces are always equal distances along the staff, and there are eight such distances between notes.
A staff consists of different types of symbols used to indicate the pitch class, direction, and duration of each sound. These include letters that represent the actual notes on the piano, numbers that represent specific points on the staff, and small marks called clefs that tell how to play certain notes without raising them on the keyboard.
Letters and Numbers
Notes may also be represented by certain physical objects, such as strings on a violin or pipes on a flute.