Transcript
BYRON DUECK
In this video, I’m going to review how the note names you’ve learned are represented using staff notation, as well as a number of key terms used to designate elements of that notation. When you look at a musical score, or this one in particular, you’ll see two grille-like objects, one above and one below, each made up of five lines and four spaces between them. These are called staves – the singular is staff or stave. You’ll see that in this example the two staves are bracketed together here in the margin. This is an example of music written for a keyboard instrument, and this bracket turns it into a grand staff.
Each of the lines and each of the spaces represents a particular note. When an oval shape like this one is placed on a line or a space, it indicates that the note in question is to be played. So, for instance, this note here is middle C, and it designates this note on the piano or MIDI keyboard.
You read the staff from left to right. The sequence of notes represents their sequence in time. So, starting here, I would play: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C.
Just which notes are represented on the staves is determined by the clef in the margin. Here you have one clef and here you have another. This one at the top is often called the treble clef, or the G clef. It designates where the line representing G – the G above middle C – appears. So, here’s middle C and here’s G. And as you can see, the treble clef circles around that particular G.
Similarly, this clef is called the bass clef, or sometimes the F clef, and it shows you where the line representing F occurs in relation to middle C. That is the line representing F below middle C, this particular F. So again, here’s middle C, the treble clef shows you where the G above middle C is, and the bass clef shows you where the F below middle C is.
Much keyboard music is notated on a grand staff made up of two staves, with the top staff written in the treble clef and the bottom staff written in the bass clef, just like here. But this isn’t always the case. You’ll find some keyboard music that’s written on three staves, maybe even four. And sometimes you’ll find music written in two staves, where both staves are in the treble clef or both are in the bass clef. So it’s worthwhile every time you see some keyboard music, having a good look to see what clef it’s actually written in.
If you aren’t familiar with staff notation, it will be important to get familiar with it quickly. One way to do this is to get familiar with some of the mnemonics that have been created to help identify the lines and spaces on the staff. For instance, in the treble clef, you have the lines E, G, B, D, and F, which stands for – according to some – ‘Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge’. The spaces, meanwhile, are named F, A, C, E, which creates the word ‘FACE’.
So far, I haven’t said much about this particular note, and the fact that it’s on a tiny line. And in that respect, it’s different from the other lines and spaces. Well, whether it’s on a line or a ledger line, as this is called, the same way of counting holds true. You count up from middle C in sequence: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. And when you see a note on a ledger line, it simply continues the overall sequence of note names that you use when moving up and down the staff. For instance, if I have a note that is up on a high ledger line like this, I know that the top line of the treble clef is F. So, the space above that will be G. The ledger line above that space is A. The space above that is B. And the second ledger line is going to be C. You can do this whenever you find notes notated on ledger lines.
If you’re new to notation it will be important to get familiar with it just as quickly as you can. One of the better ways to do this is to test yourself. Pick a note out and see if you can identify it, first simply by looking at it. And then to confirm that you’ve got it right, check it with respect to the G line here, the F line here, or middle C here. Or of course to one of the mnemonics that you’ve learned.
You should now have a good sense of some of the terms used to designate basic elements of staff notation, as well as how the lines and spaces of this notation designate particular notes.