The grand staff explained for kids and parents

The grand staff is two staffs joined together. The top staff has a treble clef, and the bottom staff has a bass clef. A curved bracket called a brace ties them at the left edge. Piano music is written on it, with the right hand on top and the left hand below.

The parts

Part	What it is
Treble staff	The top five lines. It holds the higher notes
Bass staff	The bottom five lines. It holds the lower notes
Brace	The curved bracket at the left that joins the two staffs
Bar lines	Upright lines that run through both staffs and divide the music into bars
Middle C	The note on a short line between the two staffs

Which hand plays what

As a rule, the right hand plays the notes on the treble staff, and the left hand plays the notes on the bass staff. A composer can break the rule. Sometimes both hands play in the treble, and the bottom staff changes its clef for a few bars.

Reading across and reading down

Music is read from left to right, the same as words.

Notes that line up one above the other are played at the same moment. That holds for both staffs. A note on the top staff and a note right below it on the bottom staff sound together.

This is the hard part of reading piano music. The eyes have to take in two staffs at once.

Where middle C sits

Middle C is too low for the five lines of the treble staff and too high for the five lines of the bass staff. It sits on a short line of its own, called a ledger line, in the gap between them.

It can be written close to the top staff or close to the bottom staff. The place tells the player which hand to use. Read middle C: where it is and why it matters.

One big staff with a line taken out

Picture the two staffs pushed together, with middle C’s line drawn all the way across. That would make one staff of eleven lines. Eleven lines are hard to read, so the middle line is left out, and the two halves are pulled apart.

This is why the two staffs fit together. The top line of the bass staff is A. Next comes B in the space above it, and then middle C on its ledger line. D sits just below the treble staff, and the bottom line of the treble staff is E. The letters never skip.

Three landmarks

Landmark	Where it is
Bass F	The line between the two dots of the bass clef
Middle C	The ledger line between the staffs
Treble G	The line that the treble clef curls around

These three notes are the same distance apart. From bass F up to middle C is five notes. From middle C up to treble G is five notes. A child who knows these three can count to any other note.

For the note names on each staff, read treble clef and bass clef note names explained and Every Good Boy Does Fine.

Who reads the grand staff

• Pianists
• Harpists
• Organists, who read a third staff for the feet
• Players of the marimba and the celesta

Most other instruments read one staff. A violinist reads the treble clef. A cellist reads the bass clef most of the time.

Things to do together

Point and play. Point to a note on either staff. Your child says which hand plays it, and plays it.

Find the landmarks. Circle every bass F, middle C, and treble G on one page of your child’s book.

Same time. Find two notes that line up, one on each staff. Play them together.

Build it. Draw five lines, a gap, and five more lines. Add the clefs, the brace, and middle C.

Print and play

Print big staff paper, the treble clef note chart, and the bass clef note chart. Make your own pages with the staff paper maker. For the basics, read how to read music for parents.