How to Read the Music Staff - Treble, Bass, Alto, Tenor, and Percussion

What if I told you that the music you're hearing right now dates back to the first century A.D.? Yeah, you heard me. First century A.D. But music theories. You told us that recorded music wasn't invented until the 19th century. And it wasn't. But the recording isn't from then. The written music is from then. And it looks like this. Discovered in modern-day Turkey in 1883, it has since been translated into modern sheet music and English lyrics by historians. The scale is actually the one credited to Pythagoras, expressed using the letters of the Greek alphabet with symbols written above them. How incredible is it that we get to have a taste of what music sounded like in ancient Greece, thanks to written music? Music is a language. It's passed down verbally and through script like any other language. If you're someone who's ever wanted to begin learning that language, here's a great place to start. Hi everyone, and welcome to Music Theories, where I explain and analyze all things related to pop music, music theory, and music history. This video is part of a series I'm making exploring the fundamentals of music, so I recommend checking out the previous segments to get the most out of this video. From here, we're going to be moving into exciting things like building chords, writing melodies, and rhythm. So if that's something you'd be interested in, be sure to subscribe and hit the notification bell to be the first to know when the next episode is out. Written music has evolved over and over since the Saikylos epitaph. If you'd like a more in-depth look at the history of music notation, let me know, but for time's sake, I'll give you a crash course. The early Middle Ages brought us this early form of notation called mews, which were little squiggles developed by monks who composed plainchant or religious songs. These little scribble-looking things are supposed to describe the shape of the melody, where it slides down, leaps up, etc. As you can imagine, this was really difficult to read if you'd never heard the song. So at this point, music is still being passed down primarily through tradition, and this notation acted more as a reference for singers. Guido of Arezzo came up with the idea to include lined paper around 1000 AD so that each note could have a fixed pitch. Like hey, instead of singing that squiggle literally anywhere within your range, could you start it on this note? He actually originally only had one red line on the paper. The note on that line was either a C or an F, and everything above or below that line was relative. This line later developed into what's called a clef, but we'll talk more about that in a bit. Gradually, Guido added more lines and colors and changed the little squiggles to more organized, square-shaped notes. Within 100 years, Europe saw the staff evolve into five lines, and the first key signature was utilized. It had one flap. Between 1300 and 1700 AD, huge advancements were made. Notes had rhythmic value, or duration, built into them. With this change came basic time signatures, common time and cut time, as well as note names. And just in time for Bach, bar lines rolled around. Notes went from being square to being circle. Smaller divisions were introduced, and time signatures became more complex with the fraction style symbol we use now. And while this era of notation looked more similar to what we use now, there was no standard for how it should be, like we have now. The classical era introduced use of what we call dynamics. These are markings to determine how loud or soft a piece is played. This is also when we begin to see accent markings, such as staccato, legato, and so on. And with that, you're more or less up to speed. Western music has a standard for how music is written out on a sheet, the same way that languages have spelling and grammar. I'm going to walk you through these standards at a pace that hopefully helps you to comprehend. This symbol is essentially a universal symbol for Western music. However, it really only represents a particular set of pitches, specifically the top half of the piano. This symbol is called the treble clef, or the G clef. Remember five seconds ago when we talked about one line representing a C or an F? This is that same idea. The G clef is drawn on the second line, which in this case is the pitch G4. Everything above or below that line is relative to that G4. These are fixed pitches that sit on each line or in each space, so we don't need to include the octave numbers. If you're unaware, the musical alphabet begins at A and stops at G. Once you pass G, you start back over at A. This pattern repeats. When teaching kids to read the staff or even adults, people often come up with mnemonic devices, the most common being every good boy does fine for the pitches on the lines and F-A-C-E or face in the spaces. This is my go-to just because it rhymes, but there are lots of others. I recommend using the one that works best for you. But the pitches remain relative, so if all else fails and you forget your mnemonic device, you can simply count up or down from the G clef. Outside of the five lines of the staff, we can extend below or above using what are called ledger lines. If the first line on the staff is E, then below that first line is D. The first ledger line beneath that is C, and then B, A, and so on. The same applies to the top. If the last line is F, then the space after that is G, then A, and then B, and so on. Now, obviously ledger lines get to a point where it's difficult to read. It wouldn't make a ton of sense to write a piece of music like this, but the treble staff contains fixed pitches and it's only half of the piano. So what if your piece of music contains notes that are lower than a D4? That's where the bass clef comes in. The bass clef looks like this and is centered around the pitch F3. Therefore, it can also be called the F clef. This staff covers the lower half of the piano. The most common mnemonic devices for the lines and spaces here are good boys do find always on the lines, and all cows eat grass in the spaces. Ledger lines can also be used here. If the last line is A, then the space on top of it is B, and the first line is C, and so on. This first ledger line, C4, might look familiar. It's actually the same pitch as the ledger line at the bottom of the treble staff. In fact, this is where the two staves overlap. This C is also known as middle C, and it can be found, believe it or not, in the middle of the people read what is called the grand staff. This is the staff that displays both the bass and the treble clef, and thus the entire piano. It's just a matter of learning where each pitch sits on the instrument itself. Now, you'll most commonly see music written on the grand staff, or on the treble staff alone, but I just want to quickly point out that other clefs do exist. They're just specific to certain instruments and used to avoid many ledger lines. Primarily, the tenor clef and the alto clef. They both actually use the same clef, which is the C clef, centered around middle C. They're just placed on different lines. The tenor clef sits on the fourth line, which means that everything read here is relative to middle C being on that fourth line. Tenor is typically used for instruments that are generally lower in pitch, such as trombone, cello, or bassoon. The alto clef sits on the third line, which means that everything read here is relative to middle C being on that third line. The viola is essentially the only instrument that uses this clef, aside from the alto trombone. There is one other clef that you'll probably come across in your music studies, and it looks like this or this. This is called the neutral or percussion clef, but it's also commonly known as the rhythm clef. These staves do not indicate any particular pitch and are intended for those reading rhythmic notation only, while reading music is not required to learn how to play music. It's a great skill to be able to communicate your ideas effectively, and it can also help you visualize ideas and understand music theory on a deeper level, as you'll also be able to analyze great musical works of the past. And of course, reading the staff takes practice like anything else. But once you begin to memorize which pitches go where, you'll be able to read the staff more fluently. It's the same idea as learning to read by sounding out vowels and consonants. Eventually, you'll just know how to read. If you have any further questions about the staff, feel free to comment below. Don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell to be notified when the next episode is out. We'll be moving on to notation next, and how to count basic rhythms. I'm really looking forward to it. Thank you so much for watching!