Lesson 1: The Musical Staff   Music in our "western" culture is written on five lines and four spaces: This collection of lines and spaces is called a staff. We can refer to each line and each space by its number. A staff doesn't usually have numbers written beside the lines and spaces. We've put them there to show the fact that we number them from the bottom. On the staff we place notes and rests. (You'll find out more about notes and rests in later lessons.) At the beginning of each staff we place an object called a "clef". A clef tells us which notes are which. The two most common clefs are the "treble" clef: and the "bass" clef:   A treble clef line and a bass clef line joined together form what is called a "grand staff": Looks familiar? All piano music is written on a grand staff. hbszfxfs Take a close look at the treble clef:    Let's learn how to draw it: i) Start with the dot at the bottom, and begin to draw the line upward:   ii) Continue upward until you pass the top line of the staff by a short distance:   iii) Swoop to the right and head downward, crossing the first line you drew at the 4th staff line:   iv) Continue the line downward, slowly curving to the right, so that it eventually "sits" on the bottom line:   v) Finish your treble clef with a curl that brushes the 3rd line, and then crosses the 2nd line:   Practice drawing some treble clefs: (Lesson continues below)   Please note: the free lessons you're now viewing are just primers.  If you want the real thing, you need to get the Easy Music Theory On CD-ROM course.  It contains the full lessons, a comprehensive set of fantastic worksheets and quizzes, and 25 computer videos of Gary actually teaching each lesson.  NOT TO BE MISSED!   Did you know you can watch Gary teaching this lesson? Gary makes music theory easy! Buy Gary Ewer's Easy Music Theory on CD-ROM, and you'll get more of the teaching you've come to enjoy from Gary, plus all-new worksheets (these are great!), new quizzes, and answer sheets. But the greatest feature of the CD-ROM course is the awesome videos of Gary teaching each lesson. Don't miss out. Click here to learn more, or click here to purchase now. It's completely guaranteed! Want to see a video demo of the course? Click [here]. Note: The demo has reduced video resolution for faster web loading. The bass clef is quite a bit easier to draw:   i) Start by drawing a dot on the 4th line, then swoop upward and toward the right, brushing the top line:   ii) Continue downward and to the left until you just graze the 2nd line:   iii) Place two dots that straddle the 4th line, fairly close to the clef:     Practice drawing some bass clefs:  Here's a screen shot of Gary teaching the full Lesson 1 of Easy Music Theory on CD-ROM: (click thumbnail for larger view. Click [here] to purchase the full course)

Quiz

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