The Staff

Early in the history of music notation, music was written on an eleven line staff. With so many lines and spaces it was difficult to determine which line or space contained a note. Music today is written using a five line, four space staff. However, five lines and four spaces do not tell you which five lines and four spaces are being used.

That is the job of the musical clef. Each clef identifies a specific line which makes it possible to identify all of the other lines and spaces. Our eyes are able to read music and determine the position of the notes on the lines or in the spaces between the lines when there are only five lines.