Grade 1: Notation - Clefs and Leger lines
If you look at the keys on a piano or a keyboard, you will notice that the pattern of white and black keys repeats.
The notes A-G repeat as well.
The note C can occur in several positions. The difference between a note (e.g. E) and the next similar note (e.g. the next E) is called an octave.
Imagine members your family singing the song “Happy Birthday” to you. They will be singing the same tune, but the men will probably be singing the tune lower than the women singing it. They are singing an octave apart.
On a stave, the notes either “sit” in spaces, or lines go through them.
On the stave above, the
symbol is called the “treble” clef. One of the special notes on a stave with the treble clef is called “middle C”. “Middle C” is often used to represent the C that is closest to the middle, on a keyboard.
Middle C
Can you indicate the letter names of the other notes above?
The treble clef is used to represent notes that are high. Notes that are low can be represented using the bass clef. On the bass clef, middle C is written higher up, so that we can notes lower than middle C more easily.
