Fundamentals
How to Read Sheet Music: Staves, Clefs and Note Names
The staff, the treble and bass clefs, line and space names, ledger lines, and where the key and time signatures sit, with a table to learn from.
Bar line
A vertical line through the staff that divides music into measures, with heavier forms marking sections and the end.
Also called: barline, bar, measure line
A bar line is a thin vertical line drawn through the staff to separate one measure from the next. A measure is the span between two bar lines, and in a given meter it holds the number of beats the time signature sets. Bar lines help the eye find the beat but do not change the sound, and a tie can carry a note across a bar line. A double bar line marks the end of a section or a major division. A final bar line, a thin line beside a thick one, ends the piece. Repeat signs combine a double bar line with two dots at the start or end of a passage. A phrase can run across a bar line, so the line marks meter rather than phrasing.
Related terms
- MeasureThe span of notes between two bar lines, containing the number of beats set by the time signature.
- Time signatureA pair of numbers after the key signature: the top gives beats per measure, the bottom the note value of one beat.
- Repeat signA double bar line with two dots that tells the performer to play a section again, often with first and second endings.
- TieA curved line joining two notes of the same pitch, so that they sound as one note lasting the combined value.
Read more
Rhythm & Meter
Meter, Beat Hierarchy and Hypermeter in Performance
Meter is a pattern of strong and weak positions, not a time signature: how it is built, how it stretches past the bar, and where performance contradicts it.