Tembra Musician's Toolbox

Five lines and four spaces

Written music sits on a stave of five lines. A note on a higher line or space sounds higher. Notes can also sit above or below the stave on short ledger lines.

Clefs tell you which pitches the lines mean

The clef at the start of the stave fixes the pitches. Treble clef curls around the G above middle C; bass clef's two dots sit either side of the F below middle C.

• Treble clef lines, bottom to top: E G B D F
• Treble clef spaces, bottom to top: F A C E
• Bass clef lines, bottom to top: G B D F A
• Bass clef spaces, bottom to top: A C E G

Middle C

Middle C is the shared meeting point: one ledger line below the treble stave, or one ledger line above the bass stave. Find it on a keyboard and the rest follows.

Treble bottom line = E. Count up in steps: E F G A B C D F...