Staff ( music ) - wikipedia Staff ( music ) A typical five - line staff. In Western musical notation, the staff ( US ) or stave ( UK ) ( plural for either : staves ) is a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces that each represent a different musical pitch -- or, in the case of a percussion staff, different percussion instruments. Appropriate music symbols, depending on the intended effect, are placed on the staff according to their corresponding pitch or function. Musical notes are placed by pitch, percussion notes are placed by instrument, and rests and other symbols are placed by convention. The absolute pitch of each line of a non-percussive staff is indicated by the placement of a clef symbol at the appropriate vertical position on the left - hand side of the staff ( possibly modified by conventions for specific instruments ). For example, the treble clef, also known as the G clef, is placed on the second line ( counting upwards ), fixing that line as the pitch first G above ' middle C '. The lines and spaces are numbered from bottom to top ; the bottom line is the first line and the top line is the fifth line. The musical staff is analogous to a mathematical graph of pitch with respect to time. Pitches of notes are given by their vertical position on the staff and notes are played from left to right. Unlike a graph, however, the number of semitones represented by a vertical step from a line to an adjacent space depends on the key, and the exact timing of the beginning of each note is not directly proportional to its horizontal position ; rather, exact timing is encoded by the musical symbol chosen for each note in addition to the tempo. A time signature to the right of the clef indicates the relationship between timing counts and note symbols, while bar lines group notes on the staff into measures. Contents 1 Usage and etymology 2 Staff positions 3 Ensemble staves 4 Great stave / Grand staff 5 History 6 See also 7 Notes 8 External links Usage and etymology Staff is more common in American English, stave in British English. The plural is staves in either case ; stave is, in fact, a back - formation from staves. Staff positions Staff, with staff positions indicated. The vertical position of the notehead on the staff indicates which note to play : higher - pitched notes are marked higher on the staff. The notehead can be placed with its center intersecting a line ( on a line ) or in between the lines touching the lines above and below ( in a space ). Notes outside the range of the staff are placed on or between ledger lines -- lines the width of the note they need to hold -- added above or below the staff. Which staff positions represent which notes is determined by a clef placed at the beginning of the staff. The clef identifies a particular line as a specific note, and all other notes are determined relative to that line. For example, the treble clef puts the G above middle C on the second line. The interval between adjacent staff positions is one step in the diatonic scale. Once fixed by a clef, the notes represented by the positions on the staff can be modified by the key signature or accidentals on individual notes. A clefless staff may be used to represent a set of percussion sounds ; each line typically represents a different instrument. Ensemble staves A vertical line drawn to the left of multiple staves creates a system, indicating that the music on all the staves is to be played simultaneously. A bracket is an additional vertical line joining staves to show groupings of instruments that function as a unit, such as the string section of an orchestra. A brace is used to join multiple staves that represent an instrument, such as a piano, organ, harp, or marimba. Sometimes a second bracket is used to show instruments grouped in pairs, such as the first and second oboes or first and second violins in an orchestra. In some cases, a brace is used for this purpose. When more than one system appears on a page, often two parallel diagonal strokes are placed on the left side of the score to separate them. Four - part SATB vocal settings, especially in hymnals, use a divisi notation on a two - staff system with soprano and alto voices sharing the upper staff and tenor and bass voices on the lower staff. Confusingly, the German System ( often in the combined forms Liniensystem or Notensystem ) and Italian sistema refer to a single staff ; Akkolade ( German ) and accollatura ( Italian ) designate systems in the English sense. Great stave / grand staff The grand staff When music on two staves is joined by a brace, or is intended to be played at once by a single performer ( usually a keyboard instrument or harp ), a grand staff ( American English ) or great stave ( British English ) is created. Typically, the upper staff uses a treble clef and the lower staff has a bass clef. In this instance, middle C is centered between the two staves, and it can be written on the first ledger line below the upper staff or the first ledger line above the lower staff. Very rarely, a centered line with a small alto clef is written, and usually used to indicate that B, C, or D on the line can be played with either hand ( ledger lines are not used from a center alto as this creates confusion ). When playing the piano or harp, the upper staff is normally played with the right hand and the lower staff with the left hand. In music intended for the organ, a grand staff comprises three staves, one for each hand on the manuals and one for the feet on the pedalboard. A simple grand staff. Each of the staves shown above has seven notes and one rest. History 12th - century Beneventan manuscript showing diastematic neumes and a single - line staff Early Western medieval notation was written with neumes, which did not specify exact pitches but only the shape of the melodies, i.e. indicating when the musical line went up or down ; presumably these were intended as mnemonics for melodies which had been taught by rote. During the 9th through 11th centuries a number of systems were developed to specify pitch more precisely, including diastematic neumes whose height on the page corresponded with their absolute pitch level ( Longobardian and Beneventan manuscripts from Italy show this technique around AD 1000 ). Digraphic notation, using letter names similar to modern note names in conjunction with the neumes, made a brief appearance in a few manuscripts, but a number of manuscripts used one or more horizontal lines to indicate particular pitches. Excerpt from a keyboard work by William Byrd written on a six - line staff, 1591 The treatise Musica enchiriadis ( AD 900 ) uses Daseian notation for indicating specific pitches, but the modern use of staff lines is attributed to Guido d'Arezzo ( AD 990 -- 1050 ), whose four - line staff is still used ( though without the red and yellow coloring he recommended ) in Gregorian chant publications today. Five - line staves appeared in Italy in the 13th century, and staves with four, five, and six lines were used as late as 1600. See also Tablature Sight reading Rastrum Notes Jump up ^ https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/stave Jump up ^ Pam Peters, The Cambridge Guide to English Usage, p. 514. ^ Jump up to : Irvine, Demar ; Pauly, Reinhard G. ; Radice, Mark A. ( 1999 ). Irvine 's writing about music. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 213. ISBN 978 - 1 - 57467 - 049 - 3. Retrieved 18 October 2011. Jump up ^ Rachmaninoff, Sergei ( 1965 ). Piano concertos nos. 1, 2, and 3. Courier Dover Publications. p. 261. ISBN 978 - 0 - 486 - 26350 - 2. Retrieved 18 October 2011. Jump up ^ Strauss, Richard ( 1904 ). Eine Alpensinfonie ; and, Symphonia domestica. Courier Dover Publications. p. 71. ISBN 978 - 0 - 486 - 27725 - 7. Retrieved 18 October 2011. ^ Jump up to : Richard Rastall. `` System ''. In L. Root, Deane. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. ( subscription required ) Jump up ^ Harvard Dictionary of Music ( 2nd edition, 1972 ) : Neume, Staff External links Dolmetsch Online : Printable PDF files of musical staff ( A4 size ) Audio Graffiti Free Manuscript Paper : Printable PDF files of musical staff ( A4 and Letter size ; standard, TAB and more ; with or without clefs ) Printable files of musical staff in PDF and PostScript formats provided by Perry Roland of Alderman Library at The University of Virginia Customizable Manuscript Paper : Customizable staff paper in varying dimensions, staff heights, thicknesses, and margins in PDF format Musical notation Staff 8 15 Abbreviation Bar / barline / measure Clef Da capo Dal segno Key signature Ledger line Mode Ossia Scale Rehearsal letter Repeat sign Tempo Time signature Transposition Transposing instrument Musical notes Accidental ( flat natural sharp ) Cue note Dotted note Grace note Note value ( beam notehead stem ) Pitch Rest Tacet Tuplet Tremolo Interval Helmholtz pitch notation Letter notation Scientific pitch notation Articulation Accent Sforzando ( musical direction ) Caesura Damping Dynamics Fermata Fingering Legato Marcato Ornament ( appoggiatura glissando grace note mordent slide trill ) Portato Slur Staccato Tenuto Tie Tonguing Sheet music History of music publishing Music engraving Popular - music publisher Sheet - music publisher Scorewriter Alternative Braille music Chord chart Fake book Figured bass Graphic notation Lead sheet Eye music Nashville number system Numbered musical notation Klavarskribo Tablature ( `` Tab '' ) Parsons Percussion notation Simplified Non-Western and ancient Chinese Kepatihan Kunkunshi Neume Swaralipi Shakuhachi Znamenny Related Mensural notation Music stand Sight - reading Sight singing Transcription List of musical symbols Category : Musical notation Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Staff_(music)&oldid=802241531 '' Categories : Musical notation Hidden categories : Pages containing links to subscription - only content Talk Contents About Wikipedia Afrikaans Bân - lâm - gú Български Bosanski Català Čeština Cymraeg Deutsch Eesti Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français Galego 客家 語 / Hak - kâ - ngî 한국어 Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית Latina Lietuvių മലയാളം Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Occitan Polski Português Română Русский Simple English Slovenčina Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska ไทย Türkçe Українська Tiếng Việt 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 24 September 2017, at 21 : 52. 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Question: the name of the staff used for higher pitches
Answer: the treble clef, also known as the G clef