Pitch is simply how high or low a sound is. Think of it like a ladder. The higher you climb, the higher the pitch. A bird's chirp is a high-pitched sound, while a big dog's bark is a low-pitched sound. In music, we organize these high and low sounds to create melodies and harmonies.

To write music, we need a way to show which pitches to play. For this, we use the staff (or stave). The staff is a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces. Each line and space represents a different pitch.

But the lines and spaces don't mean anything by themselves. We need a special symbol at the beginning of the staff to tell us which notes correspond to which lines. This symbol is called a clef.

The two most common clefs are the treble clef and the bass clef.

In the treble clef, the notes on the lines are E, G, B, D, F. A common way to remember this is the phrase "Every Good Boy Does Fine." The notes in the spaces spell out the word FACE.

For the bass clef, the notes on the lines are G, B, D, F, A, which you can remember with "Good Boys Do Fine Always." The notes in the spaces are A, C, E, G, remembered with "All Cows Eat Grass."

Instruments like the piano use both clefs at the same time. This is called the grand staff. The staves are connected, with the treble for the right hand and the bass for the left. The note right in the middle, connecting them, is called Middle C.

The seven notes (A, B, C, D, E, F, G) are just the beginning. We can alter their pitches slightly using symbols called accidentals. There are three main accidentals.

For example, if you see a sharp symbol (♯) next to a C, you play C-sharp, which is slightly higher in pitch than C. If you see a flat symbol (♭) next to a B, you play B-flat, a pitch slightly lower than B.

An accidental placed before a note applies to that note for the rest of the measure. A natural sign (♮) is used to return the note to its original pitch within that measure.

Finally, the same note name can appear multiple times at different pitches. For example, there are many Cs on a piano. The distance between one C and the next higher C is called an octave. The notes within an octave have the same name but different frequencies, giving them a higher or lower sound.

Ready to test your knowledge? Let's see if you can identify notes and understand accidentals.

Understanding pitch and how it's written is the first major step to reading music. Once you can identify the notes on the page, you're ready to start making music.