Day 19: Notating Pitch on the Staff
Since we perceive musical tones as higher or lower in relation to each other, we need a system of notation that can visually represent these relations. The staff is a set of 5 parallel, horizontal lines that provides such a system.
It’s interesting to note that another word for staff is “stave” but the word “staves” is plural to both staff and ‘stave.
Musical notes are written out through the 5 lines:
Notes written through the lines of the staff
As well as in the 4 spaces between the lines:
Notes written on the spaces between the lines of the staff
Notes that sound higher are placed higher on the staff, and notes that sound lower are placed lower. Keeping in mind that notes on the staff are read from left to right (), just like written English, we can see that notes can move in 3 ways:
1. Up or down to the next space or line, known in musical terms as stepwise motion
:
2. Up or down by more than a step, known as skipwise motion
:
3. Or the same note can be played again (repeated), known as stationary motion:
Tones that are sounded together are written on top of each other like so: