Notating Pitch

This is a preview of the educational program A Jazz Improvisation Almanac which is under development for the Outside Shore Music Online School. Feel free to browse this preview and learn what you can from it. For a more completed product, though, check out the original freely browsable jazz textbook, A Jazz Improvisation Primer.

Pitch is represented by vertical position within the staff. The notes corresponding to the white keys on a piano keyboard are represented by lines and spaces on the staff:

[EXAMPLE]

Notes that are toward the top half of the staff have stems that go down, while notes toward the bottom half of the staff have stems that go up.

Notice the small extension lines, called ledger lines, that were added to notes above or below the staff. This is done to allow notes to extend beyond the staff while still continuing the pattern of lines and spaces.

Some instruments, such as the piano, are capable of playing two or more notes at a time. This is indicated by aligning them vertically:

[EXAMPLE]

Notice the symbol at the left edge of the above examples. This is called a treble clef. It establishes how the lines and spaces are to be interpreted. When using the treble clef, middle C is the first ledger line below the staff, as in the above example. The lines of the staff, bottom to top, correspond to the notes E, G, B, D, and F. Most students are taught to remember this as "Every Good Boy Does Fine". The spaces correspond to the notes F, A, C, and E, which spell the word "face".

[EXAMPLE]

The treble clef is used by most instruments with a range that is largely above middle C, although some instruments use music that has been transposed into treble clef even though the actual sound is mostly below middle C (the baritone saxophone is one such example). Other instruments use the bass clef, which places middle C on the ledger line above the staff:

[EXAMPLE]

In the bass clef, the lines are G, B, D, F, and A, which many children learn as "Good Boys Do Fine Always", even though this a rather unimaginative variation on the treble clef mnemonic. The spaces are A, C, E, and G, which is generally learned as "All Cows Eat Grass".

[EXAMPLE]

Piano music is usually written with a system of two staves: a bass clef on the bottom for the left hand, and a treble clef on the top for the right hand:

[EXAMPLE]

The one other common type of clef is the C clef, of which there are several varieties. The basic idea is that the shape of the clef indicates the location of middle C. The following is the tenor clef:

[EXAMPLE]

The C clefs tend to be used much less commonly, especially in jazz, although the tenor clef is sometimes read by trombonists.

A staff may contain a change of clefs during the course of a piece:

[EXAMPLE]

Regardless of clef, flats and sharps are indicated by placing the corresponding symbols in front of the note to be altered:

[EXAMPLE]

A note that was previously flatted or sharped within a measure can be restored to its original pitch by preceding it by a natural sign:

[EXAMPLE]

These symbols are referred to as accidentals.

Copyright 2000 Outside Shore Music
Authored by Marc Sabatella

Notating Pitch