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Staff
The staff is a set of horizontal lines on which are written the musical notes.
Lines and spaces
A staff is usually composed of 5 horizontal lines.
Music notes can be written on a line or on a space (i.e. between two lines).
Reading direction
Vertical axis
The vertical axis represents the pitch scale of the sounds: the bass notes are at the bottom of the staff, the treble notes at the top. When the notes go from bass to treble, we say that the direction is ascending. When the notes go from treble to bass, we say that the direction is descending.
Horizontal axis
The horizontal axis represents the timeline. The notes are disposed one after the other, from left to right. If several notes have to be played at the same time, they will be written on top of each other.
The music is read from bottom to top and from left to right.
Reading clefs
To determine the name of the notes written on a staff, it is necessary to place a clef at the beginning of the staff. This clef associates a line with a reference note and thus makes it possible to deduce the other notes written on the staff.
For example, the treble clef (G clef) assigns the G note to the 2nd line of the staff. Thus, all the other notes can be deduced following the scale order.
Last update on 2021/05/07
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