UNIT 1

At its simplest,

music is written

down using a group

of five horizontal

lines,

known as a stave or staff:

Notes are written as circles, either on the lines, or in the spaces between them:

Classical music
Classical music means music written by composers
for the mainly European tradition of music played

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in concerr halls, at the opera, or in churches. Some

people caLLthis 'serious music', but this is

The higher or lower the note appears on the stave, the higher or lower it sounds. But

misleading: not aLL'classical' music cakes itself

seriously, while a good deal of ocher music has

there are more notes on the piano than can fit on a single stave, so the piano uses two

serious intentions. In chis book we'll use the

staves. Each of the staves has a sign, called a clef,

neutral term 'non-classical' to include jazz, blues,

piano's range it relates roo It is written

rock, folk, and mainstream 'popular' styles.

to indicate

at the beginning

which parr of the

of each line of music. These

are the two clefs:

Treble

clef means the stave corresponds

to the region above (right of) Middle C.

Bass clef means the stave corresponds to the region below (left of) Middle C.
Treble clef:

The upper stave is normally

lower stave, normally

Bass clef:

played by the right hand, and uses the treble clef. The

played by the left, uses the bass clef. (Occasionally,

advanced piano music, you'll see a third stave, but this is exceptional.)
of notes represented

by the staves meet at Middle

line, known as a leger

required.

line, drawn through

The combination

stave, because it amounts

in very

The two sets

C, which is indicated

by a little

it. It only appears when it is actually

of treble and bass staves is sometimes

called the great

to a single large stave of eleven lines.

MiddleC

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TJ

TJ -~-~)-~-

treble clef is B; but a note in the middle

Treble

A note on the middle

the notes for each clef. Here it is:

clef (right hand):

I'

And these are the notes on the lines:

line of the

line of the bass clef is D. We need an easy

These are the notes in the spaces:

38

~~-~ -~--

Note that the two clefs have to be read differently.

way to remember

~~-~ -'-)-~-

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