Ledger lines

When a note is too high or too low for the five lines, it gets short lines of its own: ledger lines, spaced like the staff's. Above the treble staff, A is on the first ledger line, B just above it, high C on the second, D above it and E on the third. Below the bass staff it runs the same way down: E on the first ledger line, D under it, low C on the second, B under it and A on the third.

Between the staves, ledger lines lead from one clef to the other. In the treble clef, middle C is the first ledger line below, B hangs under it and A is on the second; in the bass clef, middle C is the first ledger line above, D sits just above it and E is on the second. The A on two ledger lines under the treble staff is the same key as the bass staff's top line: two ways to write one note, chosen for the hand that plays it.

Count ledger lines from the staff outwards, in pairs if you can: two lines and a space is a shape the eye learns. And a dotted quarter note is a beat and a half, almost always followed by an eighth that makes up the beat: count 1 (2) and.