To write music, music notes and other musical symbols (clef, rest, alteration…) are placed on the music staff (or stave). The staff (or stave) is made by five parallel horizontal lines.
Lines and Spaces on the Music Staff (or Stave)
The space between each line is called space. Lines and spaces are always counted from the bottom up :
Music notes can be placed on lines or in spaces of the music staff :
Music Staff and Music Clefs
Mini Interactive Tutorial
Kids and adults could learn about the music notes, the G (treble) clef and the staff now with the free online mini interactive tutorial Staff and Treble Clef HN. Just select the image below to open it in a new tab.
Treble Clef, Bass Clef, Alto and Tenor Clef
To determine the names of the music notes on a staff, one of the three music clefs is placed on the beginning of each music staff. The G clef (Treble clef) is placed on the second line, the F clef (Bass clef) on the fourth line (Bass clef), the C clef on the first, second, third or fourth line.
Learn More About Music Staff and Music Theory
Clefs – Treble, Bass, Alto, Tenor
Learn about the different musical clefs and which one is used for each musical instrument.
7 Note Values (Whole Note, Half Note, Quarter Note…)
The type (shape) of musical notes (Quarter Note, Half Note, Whole Note) fixes the note value (duration).
Music Notes – Name of Notes (A B C or Do Re Mi)
Seven notes of music and two systems to name them: A B C D E F G and DO RE MI FA SOL LA SI.
Music Rests (Whole Rest, Half Rest…)
For each note value, there is a music rest of equivalent value.