Staves, Clefs & Note Naming
How music is written down: the five-line stave, the treble and bass clefs, and how we name each note from A to G.
Explainer
Music is written on a stave: five parallel lines and four spaces, counted from the bottom up.
A clef at the start tells you which pitch belongs to each line and space. The treble clef is used for higher-pitched instruments and a pianist's right hand.
On the treble clef the lines, bottom to top, are E G B D F — remembered as "Every Good Boy Deserves Fun". The spaces spell "FACE".
Notes above or below the stave use short extra lines called ledger lines. Middle C is the most famous of these — it sits just below the treble stave.
Worked examples
The five lines
Bottom to top: E, G, B, D, F.
The four spaces
Bottom to top: F, A, C, E — spells FACE.
Middle C
Middle C sits just below the stave, needing one ledger line.