Music Theory
The Musical Staff
In Western Music Notation, a musical staff is a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces that organize different musical pitches.
The origin of the musical staff can be traced back to medieval Europe. Originally, a Byzantine Monk, named Guido d’Arezzo (991-1050 AD) developed a four-lined staff, which represented the fingers of one’s hand. Later, the fifth line was added to represent the thumb, and the use of the 5 lined staff has continued to this day. A sample of the four-lined staff can be seen below. This selection comes from the Doxology and Lord's Prayer (audio sample).
Recognizing that a hand was the model for the Musical Staff can help beginning music students to become familiar with musical notation and organization more quickly.
Guido d’Arezzo originally called the Staff the "linea signata, " or the "line signature."
The staff by itself does not identify specific pitches, it simply organizes the pitches into a series of successive steps to help the musician recognize the relationship between notes.
To identify a specific pitch, a clef would need to be written into the score.
Clefs
There are four basic clefs that are typically used in musical literature. They are the treble, bass, alto, and tenor clefs.
Treble G Clef
The treble clef is also known as the G clef. Notice that the clef itself looks like a letter G. The middle part of the clef even circles around the note G. From this position we can stack the other notes up and down the clef according to alphabetical order, from A to G.
People will frequently use mnemonics to help them remember what the various lines and spaces are on the musical clef. A popular mnemonic for the lines of the treble clef is “Every Good Boy Does Fine”, or “Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge”. The spaces on the treble clef spell out the word FACE.
Bass F Clef
The bass clef is also called the F clef. It was intended to look like a backward f. The line between the two dots indicates where the note F would be. Just as we did before, we fill in the note names alphabetically. The mnemonics “Good Boys Do Fine Always”, and “All Cows Eat Grass” are fairly popular.
Alto and Tenor C Clef
The alto and tenor clefs use the C clef. The central point of this clef points to middle C.
A modified C Clef, or brace/ bracket, unites the treble and bass clefs on a grand staff. These clefs provide landmarks for the musician to identify the notes quickly and easily.
House Mnemonic
