The Grand Staff
So far we have only looked at the piano keys from "Middle C" and upward: the keys generally played with the right hand, or the higher notes.
What about the notes on the left half of the keyboard, or the lower notes? In order to write them, we will need to double our staff, and create what is called a "Grand Staff", which is actually two staves with a space between the two. The notes on the upper half of the piano keyboard are represented on the upper half of the grand staff, while the notes on the lower half of the keyboard are represented on the lower half, and they get a clef of their own, the "Bass Clef." Here's the entire piano keyboard, with the corresponding notes of each key written beneath it on a grand staff:
What about the notes on the left half of the keyboard, or the lower notes? In order to write them, we will need to double our staff, and create what is called a "Grand Staff", which is actually two staves with a space between the two. The notes on the upper half of the piano keyboard are represented on the upper half of the grand staff, while the notes on the lower half of the keyboard are represented on the lower half, and they get a clef of their own, the "Bass Clef." Here's the entire piano keyboard, with the corresponding notes of each key written beneath it on a grand staff:
That's the whole keyboard. The white keys anyway. Imagine what it would look like if we included the black keys! We now have two staves, one for the higher notes generally played with the right hand, and another for those lower notes generally played with the left hand. The two staves are actually joined together into one system known as the "Grand Staff."
Notice the piano keys on the far left side of the keyboard, and their corresponding notes written on the grand staff. At the far left side of the staff, there is another fancy-looking squiggle: this is known as the "Bass Clef" and is used whenever we are writing the lower notes on the keyboard. You'll also notice on the extreme left and extreme right sides of the piano, we have had to use several ledger lines with which to write the extreme lower and upper notes. As wide as our grand staff is, it isn't wide enough to fit all of the notes on the keyboard, so we use ledger lines to extend the staff in both directions.
Questions or problems? You may contact us as [email protected]
Notice the piano keys on the far left side of the keyboard, and their corresponding notes written on the grand staff. At the far left side of the staff, there is another fancy-looking squiggle: this is known as the "Bass Clef" and is used whenever we are writing the lower notes on the keyboard. You'll also notice on the extreme left and extreme right sides of the piano, we have had to use several ledger lines with which to write the extreme lower and upper notes. As wide as our grand staff is, it isn't wide enough to fit all of the notes on the keyboard, so we use ledger lines to extend the staff in both directions.
Questions or problems? You may contact us as [email protected]
Back to Introducing the Staff
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