The staff — five lines and what goes beyond them
Five lines, four spaces. A note that no longer fits gets ledger lines; two staves that belong together get a bracket or a brace.
Every note on this website sits on the same five lines. They are so obvious that almost nobody has them explained — and yet the position on them alone decides which note is meant.
The lines run at equal distance above one another, and between them there is exactly enough room for a notehead. Five lines and four spaces make nine places; anything higher or lower gets short ledger lines instead, one for each further step.
The pictures on this page are engraved and measured: the position of every notehead, the number of ledger lines and the kind of bracket are in the picture, and they can be counted there.
Five lines, four spaces
Nine notes one after another, each with its own place: sometimes the head sits right on a line, sometimes exactly between two. The staff holds no more places than that, and for a start it needs no more.
Ledger lines below the staff
Below the staff the lines stop, but the range of notes does not. Every further note therefore gets its own short stroke — the first one, the next two, the third three. They are as wide as the head and belong to it alone.
Ledger lines above the staff
Upwards the same holds, mirrored: the strokes sit above the top line, at the same distance as the lines themselves. From about three of them on it gets hard to read — which is when engraving prefers an octave sign.
The brace
Two staves joined on the left by a curly brace: that is the piano brace. The treble clef for the right hand usually stands on top, the bass clef for the left below. The barline runs through both, because they are read together.
The bracket
The same two staves with a square bracket in front: this is how a score groups several instruments together. The sign is a different one from the brace, the effect the same — what stands here belongs together.
Two staves without a bracket
And the counter-example: two staves with nothing in front of them. The barline stops at the bottom of the first staff and starts again at the top of the second. Two rows with nothing to do with each other — only the bracket makes a pair of them.
The six cases at a glance
Every row names what can be counted in the picture: how many staves are there, and what the case is recognised by. The figures come from the pictures on this page, measured rather than guessed.
| Case | Staves | What you see |
|---|---|---|
| Five lines, four spaces | 1 | Every head sits on a line or exactly between two |
| Ledger lines below the staff | 1 | Short strokes below the staff, one per step |
| Ledger lines above the staff | 1 | Short strokes above the staff, one per step |
| The brace | 2 | Curly brace, barline through both staves |
| The bracket | 2 | Square bracket with corners top and bottom |
| Two staves without a bracket | 2 | No bracket, and the barline stops in between |
How the staff is read
Counting runs from the bottom up: lowest line, first space, second line and so on. Each step upwards is the next letter of the note names, each step down the previous one. Which note sits on which line is settled by the clef at the start of the line — without it the lines are empty.
When the range runs out, the staff does not grow. Instead the single note gets short strokes: the first ledger line one step above or below the outer line, the second two steps, the third three. They belong to the note and not to the line, which is why they are only as wide as the head.
When two staves belong together, they are joined on the left. The curly brace stands for one instrument played with both hands — piano, organ, harp. The square bracket groups several instruments together. In both cases the barline runs through, and that is exactly how you see that the staves are read together.
What stands next to it
How the lines turn into notes: How to read sheet music. Which clef fixes which line: Clefs. How to save yourself a pile of ledger lines: Octave signs.
Music symbols · Music notation glossary
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See AnotonaEvery note on this page is computed, not typed in — following the rule that also makes F# major spell its seventh degree E#, not F.