The Notes of the Treble Clef Staff

Music is written on a what we call the "STAFF." It has 5 lines and four spaces.

At the far left end of the staff, we place our clef. This clef tells us what notes belong on the lines and spaces of the staff. There are many kinds of clefs--treble, alto, tenor, bass, etc. But for our purposes, we will learn the notes of the TREBLE CLEF. Here is what it looks like:

Now according to the treble staff, the spaces between the lines correspond to the notes f-a-c-e. This is easy to remember, of course, because it spells the word FACE!

The notes that fall directly on the lines of the treble staff are "E-G-B-D-F." An easy way to remember this is: "Every Good Boy Does Fine."

So if we want to determine the name of any given note on the treble clef, we just need to first identify if the note falls on a line or a space on the staff. 

In the example below, the note clearly has the third line of the staff running directly through it. It is a line note. 

We then ask, what are the names of the line notes? We remember that the lines notes spell "every good boy does fine." 

Therefore, the note on the third line of the staff (carefully remembering to count up from the bottom of the staff), is "boy," or "B."

Let's walk through the process once more. Looking at the note below, we must first determine if it is a line or space note.

It clearly falls on a space of the staff--there is no line running through it. 

We then remind ourselves what the names of the space notes are on the treble staff. It is easy to recall that they spell the word "FACE."

We then carefully count up from the bottom of the staff to determine that the note is clearly on the second space of the staff.

Using our word "FACE," we realize that this note is the second letter in the word, or "A."