## Grand Staff

The grand staff is the pair of staves piano music is written on: treble clef on top for the right hand, bass clef underneath for the left, joined by a brace.

Piano needs two staves because two hands cover more than nine pitches between them. The gap between the two staves is where middle C lives, which is why it gets a little line of its own.


## How To Spot Grand Staff

Look at the far left of the first line of music. A curly brace joining two staves means piano; a single staff means a single-line instrument or a voice.


## Find It In Thirty Seconds

On any piano piece, put a finger on the lowest line of the top staff and the highest line of the bottom staff. The pitch between them is middle C.

Open any piece of sheet music on this site and do it now. Reading is a recognition skill, and recognition is built by finding things, not by reading about them.