Lesson 9: The Staff and Clefs

All the sounds a musician makes are written down on five horizontal lines called the staff (or stave). Each line and each space between the lines stands for a different pitch: the higher up the staff a note sits, the higher its pitch. The system is brilliantly simple, but it needs one piece of information before it can be read — which line means which note. That is the job of the clef, the symbol at the very start of the staff.

The most common clef is the treble clef, also called the G clef. Its elegant spiral curls around the second line from the bottom, and that line is the note G above middle C. Once that one line is fixed, every other line and space follows in alphabetical order. The treble clef lines, from bottom to top, are E, G, B, D, F — remembered with the phrase "Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge". The spaces spell the word FACE: F, A, C, E. The treble clef is used for higher instruments and voices: violin, flute, oboe, trumpet, guitar, and the right hand of the piano.

The Bass Clef

Lower sounds use the bass clef, also called the F clef. Its two dots sit either side of the fourth line from the bottom, and that line is the note F below middle C. The bass clef lines, from bottom to top, are G, B, D, F, A — "Good Boys Deserve Fudge Always" — and the spaces are A, C, E, G — "All Cows Eat Grass". The bass clef is used for cello, bassoon, trombone, double bass, tuba, and the left hand of the piano. When the two clefs are used together, as on the piano, they form the grand staff: two staves joined by a brace, with middle C sitting on a short extra line — a ledger line — between them.

Ledger Lines and Reading Fluently

Notes that fall above or below the staff are written on ledger lines: short lines added one at a time, each one step further in pitch. Middle C is the most famous ledger-line note: one ledger line below the treble staff, and one ledger line above the bass staff. Reading music fluently is a matter of recognising patterns rather than counting lines every time. Experienced readers recognise the shape of a scale running up the staff, or a chord stacked in thirds, at a glance — just as a fluent reader recognises whole words rather than sounding out each letter. The way to build that fluency is the same as in reading words: a little practice, every day, with real music.

Other Clefs and Transposing Instruments

The treble and bass clefs are the two you will meet most often, but there are others. The alto clef and tenor clef are both C clefs: the symbol points to the line that is middle C. In the alto clef, middle C is on the middle line, and the viola reads it; in the tenor clef, middle C is on the fourth line, and the cello, bassoon and trombone use it for their higher notes. This lets an instrument stay on the staff instead of piling up ledger lines. Some instruments are transposing instruments: the note they play is not the note that is written. A clarinet in B flat sounds a tone lower than written, and a French horn in F sounds a fifth lower, so their parts are written higher to compensate. This exists so that players can use the same fingerings on instruments of different sizes. Guitar music is also written an octave higher than it sounds, and tenor voices are written in the treble clef but sound an octave lower. Knowing about clefs and transposition helps you understand why the same note can be written in several different ways — and why a score for a full orchestra can have a dozen different staves, each in its own clef.