Theory Lesson 3: The Treble Clef

Every staff begins with a sign called a clef. It shows the line on which certain note is written. From this we can work out where all the other notes fit on the staff.

The treble clef is used for high notes.

The treble clef began life as a fancy letter G, and its middle curls around line 2 of the stave to show that this is the line for G above middle C:

Look at the note names on the stave. Notice that the five lines from the bottom up are E, G, B, and F. an easy way to remember this is with a catchy saying, such as Every Good Bird Does Fly. You can use that one or come up with your own!

All of the other notes fit in order in the spaces. As we go up the alphabet, a note on a line is always followed by a note in a space. So, A is in the above G, then B is on the line above A, and so on. Remember that the musical alphabet has only seven letters. When we get to G we go back to A.

The image below identifies each note on the treble clef staff as well as where they fall on a piano keyboard:

The first note above is middle C. it needs a short extra line (called a ledger line) below the staff. A ledger line is only a little wider that the note it passes through.

The treble clef is used for music sung by high voices (women and children) and for instruments that mainly play high notes, such as the recorder, the xylophone, the trumpet and the violin.