The staff is the set of five horizontal lines that piano music is written on. A note's vertical position on those lines and the spaces between them tells you which pitch to play.
Higher on the staff means higher in pitch. Five lines and four spaces give you nine positions, and a clef at the left-hand end tells you which nine pitches they are. Everything else in notation is decoration on top of that one idea.
How to spot it
It is the thing the music is written on, five lines running the width of the page. Piano music uses two staves at once, joined by a brace on the left.
Find it in thirty seconds
Count the lines on the top staff of any piece: five, always. Then find a note sitting on a line and one sitting in a space, and say which is higher.
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.
Related Topics...
How to Read Sheet Music: Learn how to read sheet music using interactive lessons from Chordzy. Or browse our various reading music topics.
Music Notation Glossary: Every symbol on a page of piano music, explained in one sentence each, clefs, note values, rests, accidentals, dynamics and repeat marks.
Bass Clef: Bass Clef in piano music. The bass clef is the symbol at the start of the lower staff. Its two dots sit either side of the fourth line up, fixing that line as…
Grand Staff: Grand Staff in piano music. 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 th…
Ledger Lines: Ledger Lines in piano music. Ledger lines are the short lines added above or below a staff to carry notes that are too high or too low to fit on it. Each one c…
Treble Clef: Treble Clef in piano music. The treble clef is the curled symbol at the start of the upper staff. It fixes the second line from the bottom as G above middle C…
More in This Section
Tempo Marking: Tempo Marking in piano music. A tempo marking is the word or metronome number at the top of a piece saying how fast to play it. Andante, Allegro, or something…
Tie: Tie in piano music. A tie is a curved line joining two notes of the same pitch. You play the first one and hold it through the second, rather than playing it a…
