So … music notation was designed to favor the key of C. And that’s why the grand staff is centered around the note we call “middle C.” But back in the day, when musicians developed notation, they decided to take things even further … and they actually based the layout of the staves on the C major scale.
Now don’t get me wrong … music notation still includes all 12 notes of the chromatic scale. (And we’ll look at how sharp and flat notes are written coming right up.) But the staves are really organized around the key of C—which you can see in the figure below.
To save space, musicians decided to give only the notes of the C major scale their own place on the staves. That way, we can avoid making the grand staff too tall … which it would be if we let every note have its very own spot.
In Color Music, this is easy to see. The eight notes of the C major scale enjoy their own positions on the lines and spaces of the grand staff. And this pattern even explains a couple of common musical phrases you may have heard … like “Every Good Boy Does Fine,” and “Good Boys Deserve Favor Always.”
In traditional, black-and-white notation, these phrases help musicians memorize how the notes are laid out on the staves. For example, the lines of the treble staff (from bottom to top) are labeled by the first letter of each word in “Every Good Boy Does Fine” (E, G, B, D, F) … get it? And the lines of the bass staff are labeled by the first letter of each word in “Good Boys Deserve Favor Always” (G, B, D, F, A).
Of course, it’s a lot harder to tell which note is which without color. So we can’t really blame musicians who have to rely on phrases like these. But with Color Music, life is so much better. Because we can already see the big picture. And it’s clear that the grand staff is based on the C major scale pattern.
In fact, try playing through each of these notes. And you’ll get a feel for how they line up with the notes of any piano keyboard.
