Lesson 3: Staff, Treble Clef, Bass Clef, Grand Staff, and Middle C

Category: Lessons

The two clefs that are used when playing the piano are the treble clef and the bass clef.  In music, a clef is used to define the location of notes on the staff. These symbols form the basic infrastructure of piano sheet music.

Staff

The staff is the most basic element of Western music notation.  It consists of 5 horizontal lines with 4 spaces between them.  These are the lines (and spaces) upon which notes are written to indicate their pitch.

The Treble Clef

The treble clef, also called the G clef, is the clef commonly used for the right-hand in piano sheet music. The word ‘treble’ means soprano, or having a high range or tone. Therefore the treble clef is usually used to express the notes about or above middle C.

When the treble clef is used, the G above middle C is located on the second line of the staff.  An easy way to remember this is to notice that the treble clef symbol encircles the second line, indicating it is the G line.  Any note that falls on that line will be a G.

The Bass Clef

The bass clef can be used to express notes about or below middle C.  It is used for instruments that have a lower pitch, such as trombone, tuba, and bass guitar.  In piano sheet music, it is used for the left hand. The bass clef is also called the F-clef.  Can you guess where the F note would fall on the staff?  If you guessed that the F falls on the 4th line, you would be right.

The Grand Staff

Finally, we will discuss the grand staff. When you put the two clefs and two staffs together, you have what is called the grand staff.  Most piano  music will use the grand staff.  Notice in the illustration below that middle C is located between the two staves.  On your keyboard, middle C is the C that is closest to the middle of the keyboard.

Exercise

1. Find middle C on your keyboard

2. Find the G above middle C on your keyboard

3. Find the F below middle C on your keyboard

4. Locate G on the treble clef on the illustration above

5. Locate F on the bass clef on the illustration above

Commonly used musical terms

Category: Music Theory

Pitch

The pitch of a sound refers to its “high” or “low” quality (or frequency).  In written piano music, the pitch of a note is expressed by the position of the note on the staff, and the clef that is used.

Tone (or timbre)

In music, the word tone has several different meanings. The tone of a sound refers to its quality.  Think of the expression “tone of voice”.  The same concept applies to this musical term.  The tone of an instrument can be full and rich, or thin and whiny. Each different instrument has an inherent tone or quality that is defined by its architecture.  Using different building material, material quality, and design will result in different tones.

The word ‘tone’ can also refer to a musical interval or step.  This is beyond the scope of this article, and will be discussed further in a future post.

Melody

The melody of a piece of music can also be called the tune.  It is a linear succession of notes that form the distinctive part of the piece of music.  It has also been described as the main sound movement in a piece of music.

Harmony

In music, the term harmony refers to the use of different pitches simultaneously.  It is the supporting infrastructure for the melody, often chordal – the vertical structure of a piece of music.

Tempo

Tempo refers to how fast or how slow a piece of music should be played.  You may know some Italian terms such as largo, adagio, andante, or presto.  These tempo markings define whether the music is to be played fast (presto) or slow (largo).  There are also terms to define gradual changes in tempo.  For example, the word rallentando means “gradually getting slower”.

Dynamics

The dynamics in a piece of music define how loud or how soft the notes should be played.  Some example dynamics are: pianissimo (pp), piano(p), mezzo forte(mf), forte(f) and fortissimo(ff). To indicate gradual changes in volume a crescendo or decrescendo symbol is used.

This gives you a basic understanding of common musical terms.  In future lessons, we will follow up on many of these terms in order to expand your understanding of them.