Teaching Music in Elementary Grades

Teach. Elem 123

Cadenas, Nova joy

Joves, Edmund

Mendoza, Kimy

Navarro, Jane

Tura, Bernie
 Rudiments of Music

The music staff is the foundation for music notation, consisting of a set of five
horizontal lines and the four spaces that are between the lines. The term "staff" is more
common in American English and "stave" is used in British English, but the plural in both
instances is "staves." Other terms for the staff are the Italian pentagramma, the French
portée and the German Notensystem or Notenlinien.

The staff can be thought of as a musical graph on which music notes, rests, and
musical symbols are placed to indicate to the reader the specific pitch of a note. Notes
are written on and between staff lines, but when they fall off of the staff, they’re placed
on ledger lines that lay below and above the staff. When counting lines and spaces on
a staff, the bottom line of the staff is always referred to as the first line, with the top line
being the fifth.

The Purpose of the Staff in Music Notation

Each line or space on the staff represents a specific pitch, which correlates to the clef
that is on the staff. The exception to the pitched rule is in the case of percussion staves.
On a percussion staff, each line or space indicates a specified percussive instrument
rather than a pitched note.

The different clefs -- placed at the beginning of the staff to indicate its pitch -- result in
the lines and spaces having different meanings for pitch. The most commonly known and
recognized staff is the staff used in piano music. Piano music uses two staves, known
collectively as the grand staff (U.S.), or great stave (U.K.).

The Grand Staff

The grand staff is the two-part piano staff used to accommodate the piano’s wide range
of notes. The top treble staff and the bottom bass staff, are joined together by a bracket
to show that the two staves’ function as one unit.

Similarly, the bar lines that are written on the staves go directly from the top of the treble
staff down to the bottom of the base staff and do not break in the space between the
two staves. With the vertical line drawn down on both staves, it creates a "system,"
indicating again that the staves are to be played as one musical unit. The grand staff
joins two staves with two separate clefs. The resulting staff can show a wide range of
pitches available to play on the piano.
Treble Staff

The top staff of the grand staff is the treble staff, which is marked with the treble clef (also
called a G-clef). Its notes are generally middle C and higher and are typically played
with the right hand. Middle C on the treble staff is notated on the first ledger line below
the staff.

Bass Staff

The bottom staff of the grand staff is the bass staff, marked with the bass clef (or an F-
clef). Its notes are around middle C and below, and are played with the left hand. The
middle C on the bass clef is notated on the first ledger line above the bass staff.

Clefs on Other Staves

Other clefs may also be used on the staff which affects the pitch of a note on a particular
line or space. Since the staff has five lines, the middle line provides a simple example for
understanding this concept. For all staves, the lower a note is placed on the staff the
lower its pitch; the higher a note is placed the higher its pitch.

Treble Staff: On a staff where the G-clef is placed on the second line of the staff, the
middle line of the staff is a "B" above middle C. This is the most common clef and staff in
use today.

Alto Staff: On a staff where the C-clef is placed on the middle line of the staff, the middle
line of the staff is middle C. This staff is most frequently used in viola music.

Bass Staff: On a staff where the F-clef is placed on the fourth line of the clef, the middle
line is a "D" below middle C. This is the only F-clef in use today, so it is interchangeably
used as the "bass" clef.

Tenor Staff When the C-clef is placed on the fourth line of the staff, the fourth line is a
middle C. This clef is commonly used for playing notes in the upper ranges of certain
instruments such as the bassoon or trombone.

The treble and bass staves are the most well-recognized staves in use today, but many
musicians learn how to read other clefs as well. For composers especially, fluency in all
clefs is essential to writing scores that span the instruments in the orchestra.
A musical clef is a symbol that is placed at the left-hand end of a staff, indicating the
pitch of the notes written on it. It is essential for a musician to be able to read the music
in front of them, as it tells them which lines or spaces represent each note. There are
many types of clefs, but the four that are regularly used in modern music are Treble,
Bass, Alto, and Tenor.

Treble Clef

The treble clef is also called the “G clef” because the symbol at the beginning of the
staff (a stylized letter “G”) encircles the second line of the staff, indicating that line to be
G4 (or G above middle C). It is the most commonly used clef today and is usually the
first clef that musicians learn on their music theory journey.

Among the instruments that use the treble clef are the violin, flute, oboe, bagpipe,
coranglais, all clarinets, all saxophones, horn, trumpet, cornet, vibraphone, xylophone,
mandolin, and recorder. It is also used for the guitar, which sounds an octave lower than
written, as well as the euphonium and baritone horn, both of which sound a major ninth
lower. The treble clef is the upper staff of the grand staff used for harp and keyboard
instruments. It is also sometimes used, along with tenor clef, for the highest notes played
by bass clef instruments such as the cello, double bass (which sounds an octave lower),
bassoon, and trombone. The viola may also use the treble clef for very high notes.
Soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, contralto and tenor voices are all notated on the treble
clef, with the tenor voice sounding an octave lower than written.

Bass Clef

The bass clef is also called an F clef because it wraps around the highest F note (F3–the
F below middle C) on the bass staff. It’s usually the second clef that musicians learn after
treble, as it is placed on the bottom staff in the grand staff for piano.

Among the instruments that use the bass clef are the cello, euphonium, double bass, bass
guitar, bassoon, contrabassoon, trombone, baritone horn, tuba, and timpani. It is also
used for the lowest notes of the horn, and as the bottom staff in the grand staff for harp
and keyboard instruments. Both bass and baritone voice parts are notated on the bass
clef, though the tenor voice can be notated on the bass clef when bass and tenor are
notated on the same staff.
Alto Clef

The alto clef is one of many “C clefs” and is named as such because its center indicates
middle C. The alto clef’s center is placed on directly in the middle of the staff, designating
the third line from the bottom to middle C. Many do not learn this clef, as it is primarily
only used for the viola, the viola da gamba, the alto trombone, and the mandola.

Tenor Clef

The tenor clef is another type of “C clef,” however its center is on the fourth line from the
bottom, so middle C is moved up a third from where it was on the alto clef. Another less
common clef, it is used for the upper ranges of the bassoon, cello, euphonium, double
bass, and trombone. These instruments use bass clef for their low to mid ranges and treble
clef for their upper extremes.
Notes and rests are musical symbols on a staff that designate when to play and when
to not play. Notes on a staff represent what pitch to play and for how long. Rests are
musical symbols used to designate when to pause and not play.
 References:

https://www.liveabout.com/staff-definition-2701794

https://www.tedvieira.com/onlinelessons/sightreading101/values/values.html?fbclid=IwAR3G9TEiB4zO
BAxI7YRl2_H-oz7arTqqCYnWf4loHdLgwtXDHtslcyaQ3vQ

https://www.musicnotes.com/now/tips/a-complete-guide-to-musical-clefs-what-are-they-and-how-to-
use-them/?fbclid=IwAR3rmNXs3yW23NBKL9y_M_flg1iKFg7M4eDPS9CyTqi3FOVMQtisC_YOPe0