The Staff

Music is placed on five lines, called the staff

The staff can also be called the stave

Draw five lines to make a staff neatly with a ruler:

 
Music notes are placed either on the lines, or in the spaces:

    
  
Music notes are not circular, they are shaped like ovals on their sides

When drawing notes on a line, their centre goes right through the middle of the
line, and no more than half the way through the space above and below.

Space notes need to touch the lines above and below, but not go over them

Draw music notes on the lines on this staff:

Draw music notes in the spaces on this staff:

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 The Treble Clef
The treble clef began as a stylised letter “g”, and it is used to show where G
is on the staff.

To draw it start on the second line of the staff (the G line)

And continue like this:

Trace the treble clefs onto the staff:

Draw 10 treble clefs on the staff below:

Circle the correctly written treble clefs:

The treble clef is also known as the ___ clef.

Why do you think it has this name?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Place a treble clef before the music notes

in the correct place:      

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 Notes in the Treble Clef


You can use a rhyme to remember notes on the lines:

    
E_____ G_____ B_____ D_____ F_____
And remember a word for the space notes:

 
  
F A C E
Alternatively, you can simply count up from a note that you know:

     
  
   
C D E F G A B C D E F G

Name these notes:

Draw these notes:


D A E G B C F

Decode the following “music words”:

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 The Bass Clef
The bass clef is also called the “F clef” because it defines where F is on the staff.

To draw it, start with a dot on the F line, curve up and touch the top line, then
curve downward, finishing on or just under the fourth line.

The dots must go on each side of the F line, in the top two spaces of the staff.

Trace the bass clefs:

Draw enough bass clefs to fill this line neatly:

Circle the three correct bass clefs:

The bass clef is also known as the _____ clef.

Why?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Place a bass clef before these

music notes in the correct place:

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 Notes in the Bass Clef
If you wish you can make up rhymes to remember the names of the bass clef notes:


on the lines:

  
 
G______ B______ D______ F______ A______

  
in the spaces:

 
A______ C_____ E______ G______
Or simply count in steps from a note that you know:

   
Down from middle C: Up from low C:
       
C B A G F C D E F G

Match each note to its name: Write the following notes:

G
Continue the pattern to name the rest of the bass clef notes:

_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____

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 Notes on the Grand Staff
The Grand Staff is used by piano and other keyboard instruments that require two hands. The two
staffs are joined by a brace on the left hand side. Generally the right hand plays the upper staff and
the left hand plays the lower.

 

  
Middle C can be written in either the treble: or the bass staff:

but it is the same note in either case

Draw middle C for Draw middle C for Draw middle C for the Draw middle C for
the treble staff: the bass staff: right hand to play: the left hand to play:

Fill in the gaps and name all these notes:

B C D

Trace and draw the braces on the side, then add clefs to these grand staffs:

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 Ledger lines
Ledger lines (can be spelled as leger lines) are used when notes
are written higher or lower than the staff.
Leger lines in the treble clef

      
 
        

    A B C D E F
F G A B C

Name these notes:

Write these music words, using at least one leger line note:

Leger lines in the bass clef

      
 
      

     D E F G
A B C D E F

Name these notes:

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 The Piano Keyboard
Label the rest of the white keys on this piano keyboard:

What note is always to the left of the two black keys? _____

What note is always to the right of the three black keys? _____

Match up these notes on the grand staff to the keyboard below:

Colour the following keys on the piano keyboard:

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 Sharps and Flats

B
The sharp sign means you raise the pitch of the note by one half step

For example:
The Sharp This is F:
and this is F sharp

b
The flat means you lower the pitch of a note by one half step
For example:

The Flat This is B:

and this is B flat

Practice drawing sharps:

1 2 1 2

3 3

4 4

Practice drawing flats:

Music Notation Tip

When drawing sharps and flats, it

is important to remember that the
Copy sharps along the top line of this treble staff: line or space to which they apply
must go through the centre (the
white space) of the sharp or flat.

B b
For example
Correct:

Copy flats along the middle line of this treble staff:

B b
Incorrect:

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 Naturals & Accidentals

n
The natural sign is used to cancel a sharp or a flat

Unless it is cancelled by a natural,

an accidental generally carries through the measure.
For example:
These are both F sharps

        
Unless it is written like this:

        
Practice drawing natural signs:
1 1

2 2

Make the second note in each of these examples a natural:

Accidentals are a collective word for sharps, flats and naturals

that appear during a piece of music

Circle the accidentals in this piece:

Add accidentals to make all the F’s in this piece become F sharps:

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