The staff and the clefs

The staff

We place musical symbols on the staff.

The staff has five lines but it also has four spaces.

We count lines and spaces from bottom to top.

The clefs

The staff alone is not very useful, because we need to know the notes we place on it. That’s why we have clefs. There are a few different clefs used for different instruments but the G-clef and the F-clef are the most important.

We can only know which notes are on the staff when we place a clef. For instance, when you draw a G-clef, you have to start on the second line.

Consequently, when you place a G-clef on the staff, the note on the second line is G.

The dots on the F-clef indicate on which line the clef is placed.

Therefore, the note on the fourth line is F.