Reading Music · Chapter 4 of 12
The Grand Staff, Middle C and Ledger Lines
Piano music puts both clefs together, one above the other. Middle C sits right between them.
A piano covers both high and low notes, so piano music uses two staves at once: the treble staff on top and the bass staff below, joined at the left by a brace and a line. Together they are called the grand staff. Usually the right hand plays the top staff and the left hand plays the bottom one.
Middle C and the notes around it
Middle C sits on a short line of its own between the staves. The notes flow smoothly from one staff to the other: the top line of the bass staff is A, then B just above it, then middle C, then D just below the treble staff, then E on the treble’s bottom line.
Ledger lines
Notes higher or lower than the staff are written on ledger lines: short extra lines, just wide enough for one note. Read them like staff lines that were cut short: keep counting line, space, line, space past the end of the staff.
Notice that the notes just above and below middle C can be written in either clef. Composers pick whichever is easier to read, often depending on which hand plays them.
Landmark notes
These are worth knowing by heart. Find any other note by stepping from the closest one.
Practice
Remember
- The grand staff joins the treble staff (usually right hand) and the bass staff (usually left hand).
- Middle C sits between them on a ledger line, written in either clef.
- Ledger lines extend the staff; keep counting line, space, line past the edge.