InWesternmusical notation, thestaff[1][2] (UK alsostave;[3]plural:staffs orstaves),[1] also occasionally referred to as apentagram,[4][5][6] is a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces that each represent a different musical pitch or in the case of apercussion staff, different percussion instruments. Appropriate music symbols, depending on the intended effect, are placed on the staff according to their corresponding pitch or function. Musical notes are placed by pitch, percussion notes are placed by instrument, and rests and other symbols are placed by convention.
The absolute pitch of each line of a non-percussive staff is indicated by the placement of aclef symbol at the appropriate vertical position on the left-hand side of the staff (possibly modified byconventions for specific instruments). For example, thetreble clef, also known as the G clef, is placed on the second line (counting upward), fixing that line as the pitch first G above "middle C".
The lines and spaces are numbered from bottom to top; the bottom line is thefirst line and the top line is thefifth line.
The musical staff is analogous to a mathematicalgraph ofpitch with respect totime. Pitches of notes are given by their vertical position on the staff and notes are played from left to right. Unlike a graph, however, the number ofsemitones represented by a vertical step from a line to an adjacent space depends on the key, and the exact timing of the beginning of each note is not directly proportional to its horizontal position; rather, exact timing is encoded by the musical symbol chosen for each note in addition to thetempo.
Atime signature to the right of theclef indicates the relationship between timing counts and note symbols, whilebar lines group notes on the staff intomeasures.
Staff is more common thanstave in bothAmerican English andBritish English,[7] with the latter being, in fact, aback-formation from the pluralstaves.[8] The pluralstaffs also exists forstaff in both American and British English, alongside the traditional pluralstaves.[1] In addition to the pronunciations expected from the spellings, both plural forms are also pronounced/stævz/ in American English.[2]
The vertical position of the notehead on the staff indicates which note to play: higher-pitched notes are marked higher on the staff. The notehead can be placed with its center intersecting a line (on a line) or in between the lines touching the lines above and below (in a space). Notes outside the range of the staff are placed on or betweenledger lines—lines the width of the note they need to hold—added above or below the staff.
Which staff positions represent whichnotes is determined by aclef placed at the beginning of the staff. The clef identifies a particular line as a specific note, and all other notes are determined relative to that line. For example, thetreble clef puts the G abovemiddle C on the second line. Theinterval between adjacent staff positions is onestep in thediatonic scale. Once fixed by a clef, the notes represented by the positions on the staff can be modified by thekey signature oraccidentals on individual notes. A clefless staff may be used to represent a set ofpercussion sounds; each line typically represents a different instrument.
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Avertical line drawn to the left of multiple staves creates asystem, indicating that the music on all the staves is to be played simultaneously. Abrace (curly bracket) is used to join multiple staves that represent an instrument, such as a piano, organ, harp, or marimba.[9] Abracket is an additional vertical line joining staves to show groupings of instruments that function as a unit, such as the string section of an orchestra. Sometimes a second bracket is used to show instruments grouped in pairs, such as the first and second oboes or first and second violins in an orchestra.[10] In some cases, a brace is used for this purpose.[9][11]
When more than one system appears on a page, often two parallel diagonal strokes are placed on the left side of the score to separate them.[12]
Four-partSATB vocal settings, especially inhymnals, use adivisi notation on a two-staff system withsoprano andalto voices sharing the upper staff andtenor andbass voices on the lower staff.
Confusingly, the GermanSystem (often in the combined formsLiniensystem orNotensystem) may refer to a single staff as well as to theAkkolade (from the French) or system in the English sense; the Italian term isaccollatura.[12][13]
When music on two staves is joined by abrace, or is intended to be played at once by a single performer (usually akeyboard instrument orharp), agrand staff (American English) orgreat stave (British English) is created.[dubious –discuss] Typically, the upper staff uses atreble clef and the lower staff has abass clef. In this instance,middle C is centered between the two staffs, and it can be written on the firstledger line below the upper staff or the first ledger line above the lower staff. Very rarely, a centered line with a small C clef is written, and usually used to indicate that B, C, or D on the line can be played with either hand (ledger lines are not used from a center alto as this creates confusion). When playing thepiano or harp, the upper staff is normally played with the right hand and the lower staff with the left hand. In music intended fororgan withpedalboard, a grand staff normally comprises three staves, one for each hand on the manuals and one for the feet on the pedalboard.
Early Western medieval notation was written withneumes, which did not specify exact pitches but only the shape of the melodies, i.e. indicating when the musical line went up or down; presumably these were intended as mnemonics for melodies which had been taught by rote.
During the 9th through 11th centuries a number of systems were developed to specify pitch more precisely, includingdiastematic neumes whose height on the page corresponded with their absolute pitch level (Longobardian and Beneventan manuscripts from Italy show this technique around the year 1000).Digraphic notation, using letter names similar to modernnote names in conjunction with the neumes, made a brief appearance in a few manuscripts, but a number of manuscripts used one or more horizontal lines to indicate particular pitches.
The treatiseMusica enchiriadis (c. 900) usesDaseian notation for indicating specific pitches, but the modern use of staff lines is attributed toGuido d'Arezzo (990–1050), whose four-line staff is still used (though without the red and yellow coloring he recommended) inGregorian chant publications today. Five-line staves appeared in Italy in the 13th century and it was promoted byUgolino da Forlì; staves with four, five, and six lines were used as late as 1600.[14]
| Staff | |
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| Musical notes | |
| Articulation | |
| Sheet music | |
| Other systems | |
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