Violin Video Lesson: FitzP: The Staff

Welcome to what we call the staff. What's that? Well, it started a long time ago when someone realized that placing an object above a line made it appear higher and below the line lower. So it stood to reason then that notes placed above the line sounded higher and those placed below sounded lower.

That's when they had an idea that you could be much more precise if you added more lines.

And just like that the staff was born. But how many lines you ask? Well, let's see. There are five to be exact, all stacked on top of each other but spaced apart so that there's room for the notes to fit in.

Oh yes, the notes.

The oval turned out to be the perfect shape for a note because finesse stems going up or down.

So many useful combinations.

But more on that later. Need to stay on track. Now, we've got five lines and yes four spaces in between them which together make up quite an amazing little thing. Our staff.

You can fit quite a few notes in there but what if you need to play a note higher than the top line or lower than the bottom one? Well, that's where ledger lines come in. You see when notes are placed above or below the five lines of the staff we use something called ledger lines to extend our musical range.

These are additional lines that allow us to notate pitches that are too high or too low to be written on the staff itself.

With ledger lines you can place the note above the staff or below it.

You can add a line or place it above the line or below the line.

All of this extends the range of the notes we can play.

So that's it for the staff and ledger lines. If you have any questions pop them in the comments below and don't forget to like, subscribe and hit that notification bell for more lessons like this. Thanks for watching.

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