The Surprising Reason the Treble and Bass have Different Staff Letters

December 21, 2020 Leslie Young

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Why do the treble and bass have different staff letters?

This is a question I get a lot from students of all ages. Why don’t the lines and space for each hand have the same letter names? Why do I have to learn a different order of letters for each hand?

It’s logical to ask such questions. Each staff has five lines and four spaces, and they look identical except for the treble clef and bass clef signs.

But if you look at the big picture, you’ll come to really appreciate that you have two to read!

Remember that each key of the piano has a letter name. However, there are only seven letter names used, and then they are repeated: A B C D E F G

Why use letters and lines and spaces?

Each staff line or space represents a specific key on the piano, with its own letter name. Let that sink in! To show all of the piano keys represented on paper, there would have to be a total of 52 lines and spaces – a monster staff!

Here is an illustration of just the mid section of a piano keyboard showing each white key aligned with its corresponding staff line or space:

Back to the original question: Why are the staff letters different for the treble and the bass (the right and the left hands)?

Each piano key has its own letter name.

You see how the letters are in musical alphabet order (ABCDEFG) – on the piano and on the staff – beginning with the bass staff lowest line G, and continuing up to the right until stopping at the highest treble staff line F.

Some time around the year 1200 A.D. was when the original huge staff was divided. After that, each hand could more easily be read and play more complex written music. We’ll discuss later how the modern treble and bass clef signs developed, but for now you see the right hand’s treble clef at the top – and the left hand’s bass clef at the bottom – and together both make the ‘grand staff’.

To separate the treble and bass staves, a blank area is shown between them. It’s not empty, however. This area is for space B, line Middle C, and space D. They are called ledger line and spaces because they are not part of the five-line, four-space staff itself.

Middle C is written on a short line parallel to the staff lines – only when it is to be played. Otherwise, that C line is ‘invisible’. This is helpful to the performer because now the staves are separate, with only a five-line staff for each hand.

Splitting the lines and spaces into the grand staff is, yes, much easier to read. But it also creates a different order of letters for each clef. Remember, ledger B, C, and D are only visible when they are to be played, so they are invisible to the order of the letters. Top bass line A “jumps” to bottom treble line E.

Yes, each staff has five lines and four spaces, but they each have a different order of letter names. And now you know why!

But how often do you play the other very high and very low keys of the piano? That’s somewhere in the category of ‘hardly ever, almost never.’ So why have them? The sounds produced by the piano represent every tonal instrument in the orchestra. Somebody uses them somewhere at some time.

By the way, there are other clefs besides the treble and bass: the alto and tenor clefs – but I shouldn’t muddle your mind with those now. You can go to this link if you’re dying to know more

See this blog post: What is a successful way to relieve frustration for beginners learning piano when playing hands together?

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