(TMS) The Musical Staff/Clefs

The Musical Staff and Clefs

The staff is the foundation upon which notes are drawn.

The modern staff comprises five lines and four spaces.

Every line or space on the staff represents a white key on the keyboard.

Clefs assign individual notes to certain lines or spaces.

Two clefs are normally used: The Treble and Bass clefs.

First, we will discuss the Treble Clef (also called the G Clef).

The staff line which the clef wraps around (shown in red) is known as G. Any note placed on this line becomes G.

The note on the space above G is A. The musical alphabet consists of seven notes (A,B,C,D,E,F and G). Remember, there is not an ''H'' note.

 

The note on the line above A is B.

This process continues.

Uh-oh. We just ran out of room to place notes, what happens now? Ledger Lines will solve our dilemma.

A ledger line is a small line that extends the staff when we run out of room.

With the ledger line drawn, we can place the A.

Next, let's discuss the Bass Clef (also called the F Clef).

The staff line in between the two dots of the clef is F.

We can now fill the rest of the staff with notes.

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