🎼 Note names

Music is written on a staff: five lines and the four spaces between them. A note on a higher line or space sounds higher. The letters only go from A to G, then start again, and each step up the staff, line then space then line, is the next letter.

The curly sign at the start is the clef. The treble clef curls round the G line, second from the bottom; it is for high notes, the right hand on a piano, a recorder and a ukulele. The bass clef has two dots either side of the F line, second from the top; it is for low notes and the left hand. Middle C sits on its own little line between the two.

The eight rungs

1. Treble lines. The lines, bottom to top: E, G, B, D, F.
2. Treble spaces. The spaces, bottom to top, spell FACE.
3. Treble lines and spaces. Line, space, line, space: the letters go up one at a time.
4. Middle C and the little lines. Middle C sits on its own little line under the staff.
5. Bass lines. The bass lines, bottom to top: G, B, D, F, A.
6. Bass spaces. The bass spaces, bottom to top: A, C, E, G.
7. Bass lines and spaces. The bass clef's two dots hug the F line.
8. Both clefs. Look at the clef first, then the note.

A grown-up’s tip: say the letter out loud with your child as they tap, and play the note on a real instrument if there is one in the house. The rung and the best round are kept on this device; nothing is sent.