Staff Guide Notes

Hello and welcome back I'm Joseph
Hoffman.
Today we are going to be working with
the guide notes on the grand staff.
So let's come over to the staff and get
started.
A guide note is a note on the staff that I want you to recognize instantly,
and know so well that you can use it as a guide
to figure out any other note around it.
The first three guide notes we learn in piano are go
ahead and say them with me:
Treble G
Middle C
and bass F
Now let's check out
how to find these notes on the piano.
Middle C goes right here.
It's the C nearest the middle of my piano.
You can kind of think of middle C
as the border between two great kingdoms.
All on the right of middle C is the
kingdom of treble clef,
where everyone speaks in a high voice like Mickey Mouse.
And then below middle C, this is the kingdom of bass clef,
where everyone talks like this.
So to find treble G, you find the G nearest above middle C,
and bass F is the F, the nearest F below middle C.
Now let's look at some other guide notes on the staff.
The C's. So I'm going to take away treble G and bass F,
and let's find where the C's are. Do you remember where treble C is?
If you're pointing right here you're correct.
Treble C is three space notes up
and
it's the nearest C above middle C on the piano too.
Right here.
This is treble C.
I'll take these off for a minute.
Now, do you remember where bass C is?
That's right, it's three spaces down.
It's the opposite of treble C, which is
three spaces up.
And on your piano, bass C will be the nearest C below middle C in the kingdom of bass clef.
Now let's talk about a couple other guide notes.
This I call flag F.
It's the F line at the top of the treble clef
staff.
The way you'll remember that is think of this as a long flagpole,
and this loop at the top is a flag,
and it goes right through the F line.
This F on the piano
is way up here above middle C, above treble C,
all the way up here, flag F.
Now the line way at the bottom of bass clef I call ground G.
G for ground
because it's at the very bottom, just like the ground
is at the bottom of the sky.
On the piano, you can find ground G way down here below bass C.
Now let's put
all of our guide notes back.
I have treble G and bass F,
I'll put them back on our piano as well.
You'll notice I made the F's blue. We have a bass F down
here in the kingdom
of bass clef, and we have a flag F
way up here in treble clef.
We also have two G's. A treble G,
and then way down here a bass G,
and then we have three C's as guide notes.
Let's practice naming all of the guide
notes from the lowest to the highest
on the staff. I'll say it, and then you
repeat after me.
Ground G
Bass C
Bass F
Middle C
Treble G
Treble C
Flag F
Now let's name them together on the piano.
From the lowest to the highest. Can you
say their names with me? Go.
Ground G
Bass C
Bass F
Middle C
Treble G
Treble C
Flag F
Okay, let's practice now.
I'll name any one of these guide notes on the staff, and I'd like you to point to the one I name.
Can you point to bass C?
If you're pointing here, you're correct.
Can you
point to flag F?
If you're pointing here you're correct.
Can you point to ground G?
If you're pointing here you're correct.
Can you point to treble C?
If you're pointing here you're correct.
Can you point to base F?
If you're pointing here you are correct.
Now let's try it on the piano keys.
Can you point to ground G?
If you're pointing here you're correct.
Now point to treble C.
If you're pointing right here, you're correct.
can you point to bass F?
If you're pointing here, you're correct.
Can you point to flag F?
If you're pointing here, you're correct.
Now let's make this a little bit trickier.
I'm going to take
off all of these guide notes on the piano
except for middle C, which you'll use as a reference.
Now, I'll point to one of
these notes on the staff and I'd like you to point
to the correct note on the keyboard.
For example, if I point right here,
show me where you would point on the piano.
If you're pointing right here you're correct
this is treble C.
Now let's try another one.
Where would
you point on the piano if I'm pointing here
here on the staff?
If you're pointing right here to bass C, you're correct.
Here's another one.
Where'd you point for this note?
If you're pointing way up here to flag F
you're correct.
Remember, to find flag F ...