Basic Music Theory: How to Read, Write, and Understand Written Music

3: More Lines 28

No Holds Barred

Bar Lines and Double Bar Lines

To make music easier to read, the staff is divided into sections by vertical lines called bar lines.

There are two types of bar lines. The single bar line is a single thin line from the top line to the

bottom line. Bar lines simply divide up the staff into small sections which are easier to read. Think of

bar lines as punctuation: you don’t hear them, they’re there to help with the reading.

The double bar line marks the end of a section, or the end of a song. It has a regular-sized line in

addition to a thicker line close by to the right.

Measure

The area between two bar lines is called a measure, or a bar. To avoid confusion, from here on, I’ll

call them measures. The staff below is divided into four measures. Because some measures may

have more notes in them than others, the space between bar lines doesn’t have to be equal (notice the

first measure is a bit longer).

Staff 3.1 Staff with bar lines, double bar, and measures marked.

What? More Lines?

Learning Leger Lines

Most notes are written on the staff, but some notes are higher or lower than the staff can show. When

a note goes beyond the range of the staff (higher or lower), small horizontal lines are used to show

where the staff would be if it had more than five lines and four spaces. These are called leger lines

(sometimes spelled “ledger lines”).

The words “leger line” appeared around 1700, though the practice of writing leger lines is older. To

keep music from looking cluttered, leger lines are never used unless they’re with a note. Below are

some examples which use three different kinds of notes, but don’t worry about them—you’ll learn

what they are soon.

The last two measures show extreme examples which you’ll rarely see, but give you an idea of

what’s possible.

bar line bar line bar line bar line double bar line

measure 1 measure 2 measure 3 measure 4