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Key Notation
     Other refinements of notation included the introduction of clefs and key signatures. In early music, everything was written in one of three keys, the equivalent of C, G and F today, and only the first six scale tones were used. So the keys of C and G looked identical on the staff and the key of F had to lower the fourth step of the scale with a flat. This note happened to be 'B' and the flat symbol we still use today looks like a small 'b'. The only key notation needed was either a 'b' or a ' '(natural) drawn in front of the staff when using the F scale. Later, as instrumental music developed, not all instruments sounded in the same keys. Then clefs (literally "keys") were used to move the scale around the staff, mainly to make it easier to read in different positions. The treble clef we use today was actually a large Gothic letter "G" to point out where the note 'G' was on the staff. The bass clef was a large Gothic letter "F" and pointed to the staff position of 'F'. Most other clefs had an arrow in the middle which pointed out the note 'C' on the staff.

     With a movable reference point, writers were able to fit most instrumental parts on a five-line staff. Since everyone knew the scale, a starting position was all that was needed to play the music on any instrument. The use of accidentals (sharps and flats) to identify the key was not common until the 17th century when keyboard music began to proliferate. The key signature served the same purpose as the movable clef, showing the musician which line or space to start the scale on. On the piano, however, it also showed which notes were to be played on the black keys. The modern piano staff, a.k.a. the Grand Staff, uses five lines and six spaces. The right-hand staff is marked with the Treble clef (G clef), the left-hand staff is marked with the Bass clef (F clef) and each line and space represents a white key on the piano. Playing the white keys on the piano from bottom to top produces the key of A minor. Playing the white keys on the  piano from the top down produces the key of C major.  This white key bias is still built into the staff as we know it today.

Music is a Language:
     Music has often been called the universal language, but it isn't taught like any other language we have ever learned.   We learn our spoken language from the point of view of WHAT we want to say.  We learn to speak before we learn to read or write.  If we were taught to speak in the same way that music is taught, the teacher would spend a lot of time telling us how to move our mouth.  Communication would be rather difficult.  We would learn the names of objects without learning about their function or their relationship to other objects.   Now if we had a musical language that was as accessible as our spoken language we should be able to express