Music Staff and Treble Clef
Primary 4 · Creative Arts
Music Staff and Treble Clef
Lesson 4 of 5
25 min
Let's begin
Keza knows that line 2 is G. "But what about all the other lines and spaces?" she wonders. Music uses only seven letters for its notes, so there is not much to learn!
Notes are named with the first seven letters of the alphabet: A B C D E F G. After G, the letters start again at A. Going up the staff, each line and each space is the next letter.
From the bottom, the five lines are E G B D F.
To remember them, say: Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit. Or try a Rwandan one: Eat Green Bananas, Don't Forget!
From the bottom, the four spaces spell a word: F A C E.
The spaces spell FACE, and your face is in the space between your ears!
Put them together and the notes climb in order, one step at a time: E (line 1), F (space 1), G (line 2), A (space 2), B (line 3), C (space 3), D (line 4), E (space 4), F (line 5).
Just under the staff, the note D hangs below line 1. One step lower is middle C, which sits on its own short ledger line. Middle C is in the middle of the piano, and it is the starting note of the C scale in the next unit.
Tip
Lines: Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit. Spaces: FACE. If you forget, find G on line 2 (where the clef curls) and count up or down the alphabet.
Try each one first, then tap Show answer to check.
What is the note on the middle line (line 3)?
Answer: B.
Which note is in the top space (space 4)?
Answer: E.
What word do the spaces spell?
Answer: FACE.
Start at G on line 2 and go up one step. Which note do you reach, and is it on a line or in a space?
Answer: A, in space 2.
Where is middle C written?
Answer: On a short ledger line just below the staff.
What you learned today
Sources and credits
The memory sentences, the diagrams and the practice questions were written by Ganzaa.
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Quick check
Put the notes on the lines in order, from the bottom.
Tap the cards in the right order.
