Notes on the staff

The staff, the treble clef and the notes from C4 to C5.

The staff

Music is written on a staff: five lines and the four spaces between them. Each line and each space holds one note. The higher a note sits, the higher it sounds.

Lines are counted from the bottom: the first line is the lowest one.

Notes on the five lines, from the bottom up

Notes in the four spaces

Lines and spaces alternate. Moving from a line to the next space, or from a space to the next line, takes you to the neighbouring note.

Practice: The lines of the staff

The treble clef

A clef at the start of the staff tells which notes the lines stand for. The treble clef is also called the G clef: its curl wraps around the second line, and a note on that line is G4.

The second line holds G

Every other note is counted from there. C4 lies below the staff on a short line of its own, called a ledger line. Going up step by step from it, we arrive at C5 in the third space.

From C4 up to C5. Press play and follow the notes.

The same eight notes on the piano: the white keys from C4 to C5.

Practice: A quick question

Practice: Read the notes

Practice: Find the note on the keyboard

Practice: Write the notes

Hearing the direction of a melody

When notes climb the staff, the melody rises; when they move down, it falls. Notes on neighbouring positions are one step apart.

In a melodic dictation you hear a short melody and write it down. The first note is given. For each following note, listen whether it goes up, goes down or stays, and place it on the staff.

Three notes rising by step

Practice: Melodic dictation