Reference · module 1
Reading notes
Everything this module explains, on one page.
Note names
Name the seven notes and know why they repeat.
- Music uses just seven note names. In English they are letters: C, D, E, F, G, A, B. After B the names start again from C, only higher.
- Many countries sing the same notes as do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si. C is do, D is re, and so on — two names for the same sounds, and you will meet both.
- From one C to the next is an octave. The higher C sounds like the same note, only brighter, which is why it keeps the name. A number says which one: C4 is middle C, C5 the next one up.
The mistake you are about to make
F, G, H
F, G, A
The alphabet carries on past G, so H seems to come next. Note names stop at G and wrap round to A.
The staff
Read the notes on the lines and spaces of the treble staff.
- Notes are written on a staff of five lines. The higher a note sits, the higher it sounds. Each line and each space between lines holds one note name.
- In the treble clef the bottom line is E. Going up, line then space then line: E on a line, F in the space above, G on the next line, A in the next space.
- A quick way in: the four spaces from the bottom spell F, A, C, E — face. The five lines from the bottom are E, G, B, D and F.
The mistake you are about to make
bottom line = F
bottom line = E
FACE is the word you remember, so F feels like the bottom. FACE spells the spaces; the bottom line, just below the first space, is E.
Above and below the staff
Read notes on ledger lines, starting with middle C.
- Notes above or below the staff get short extra lines, called ledger lines. They continue the pattern — line, space, line — as if the staff went on.
- Middle C sits on one ledger line just below the treble staff. D hangs right under the bottom line, touching it, and E is the bottom line itself.
- To read an unfamiliar note, start from one you know and count steps. Every step up is the next letter: above the top line F comes G in the space, then A on the first ledger line.
The mistake you are about to make
D = on a ledger line
C = on a ledger line, D = just below the staff
Every note below the staff seems to need its own line. D hangs under the bottom line with no ledger line; the line appears only for C.