Lesson 1 - The music staff
In standard notation, the notes of music are written as symbols placed on a set of five lines (and the spaces between and around them) called a
staff or
stave. The higher the position of the line or space, the higher in pitch is the note placed there.
Fig 1-1 The lines and spaces that form the staff
To fix the exact pitch of the lines and spaces, a sign is placed at the beginning, called a
clef.
The clef that is used at the beginning of music written for guitar and many (but not all) other instruments is called the
G clef. It’s actually an ornate
letter G. It curls around the second bottom line of the staff, and in this position is called the
treble clef. It fixes the pitch of that line as
G. The treble clef and the music staff are together known as the
treble staff (or
treble stave).
The pitches of the other lines and spaces follow the musical alphabet from
A to
G, repeating as often as necessary. If we need to show notes above or below that range, we can add temporary lines, called
leger (or
ledger) lines.
Don't try to memorise all of the above pitches. They are shown for reference. They will be learned gradually as you practise the graded reading exercises starting in the next lesson.
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