Staff Notation

By Kelvin Sholar

To learn about staff notation is to learn how specific elements and terms of music are visually organized. Ways to organize specific elements and terms of music is an abstract form of knowledge, because it concerns knowledge about the methods by which specific elements and terms of music are connected, as well as ways, knowledge of processes to deal with specific elements and terms of music and processes to evaluate them. Specific elements and terms of music are the results of processes, while ways are the processes themselves. Specific elements and terms of music can be known by observation, experiment and discovery – while processes are known by definition or agreement among musicians.

Conventions of staff notation refer to the common practices of writing music in western cultures, as well as, common symbols, terms and rules of use. The staff is like a graph of pitch with respect to time. It is composed of five horizontal lines and spaces- all of which represent given pitches. Notes representing a given pitch at a given time are placed on the appropriate line, space or ledger line (i.e. line above or below the staff). Notes have parts called stems, flags or beams. When a silence occurs in staff notation we write a rest sign.

In staff notation, the first sign written is normally a clef sign; it helps identify a pitch for each line and space of the staff. Treble and bass clef are two of the most common clefs found in staff notation. Relative to the piano, the treble clef is used for high pitches (as played a pianist’s right hand), and the bass clef is used for low pitches (as played by a pianist’s left hand). Yet, pianists normally read musical notation via a grand staff which includes both treble and bass clefs.

The following staff notation contains a treble clef sign, indicating high pitches normally played by a pianist’s right hand.

In staff notation, the time signature (or meter signature) normally follows the clef sign. The time signature is composed of two numbers, positioned on top of each other. The upper number describes how many beats fall in a measure while the lower number describes what kind of note gets the beat. For example, 4/4 describes four beats falling in a measure while the 1/4 note gets the beat.