Pitches of notes are given by their vertical position on the staff and notes to the left are played before notes to the right. The musical staff is analogous to a mathematical graph of pitch with respect to time.
The lines and spaces are numbered from bottom to top the bottom line is the first line and the top line is the fifth line.
For example, the treble clef, also known as the G clef, is placed upon the second line (counting upwards), fixing that line as the pitch first G above “middle C.” The absolute pitch of each line of a non-percussive staff is indicated by the placement of a clef symbol at the appropriate vertical position on the left-hand side of the staff (possibly modified by conventions for specific instruments).
Musical notes are placed by pitch, percussion notes are placed by instrument, and rests and other symbols are placed by convention. Appropriate music symbols, depending upon the intended effect, are placed on the staff according to their corresponding pitch or function. In Western musical notation, the staff is a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces that each represent a different musical pitch-or, in the case of a percussion staff, different percussion instruments.
