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stave
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musical notation of spaced lines used to indicate pitch of notes
A stave is a set of horizontal lines used in written music to show the pitch (highness or lowness) of musical notes. It's a fundamental tool that allows musicians to read and communicate exactly which notes should be played.
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A typical five-line staff In Western musical notation, the staff (UK usually stave); (plural: staves), also occasionally referred to as a pentagram, is a set of horizontal lines (usually five) with spaces between them, that each represent a different musical pitch. However in the case of a percussion staff, there may be from one to five (or perhaps more) lines which denote different percussion instruments, as may the spaces in between. In guitar tab there are up to six (or perhaps more) lines denoting different strings.
Appropriate music symbols, depending on the intended effect, are placed on the staff with the vertical position showing their pitch, percussion instrument or string, and the horizontal position showing their approximate location in time.