Music Theory Glossary
Plain-English definitions for the terms you will meet while learning. Use it as a quick reference. Nothing here assumes you already know the jargon.
Reading music
- Bass clef
- A clef for lower notes whose two dots mark F on the fourth line from the bottom.
- Clef
- A sign at the start of a line of music that sets which note each line and space stands for.
- F clef
- Another name for the bass clef, whose dots sit above and below the F line.
- Grand stave
- A pair of five-line groups, usually treble above bass, joined by a brace and sharing middle C.
- Ledger line
- A short extra line drawn for one note that is too high or too low to fit on the five main lines.
- Middle C
- The C nearest the middle of a piano keyboard. In the treble clef it sits on the first ledger line below the five lines.
- Pitch
- How high or low a note sounds.
- Skip
- A move that jumps over one letter name, such as E to G: from a line to the next line, or from a space to the next space.
- Stave
- The five lines and four spaces that music is written on. Each line and each space stands for a note.
- Step
- A move to the very next letter name, such as E to F: from a line to the next space, or from a space to the next line.
- Treble clef
- The G clef. It curls around the second line from the bottom, which makes that line G. It is used for higher notes.