Musical notation is a system of written symbols used to represent musical sounds. It allows musicians to communicate their ideas and compositions with each other, and to preserve and share music over time. There are many different systems of musical notation, but the most common is Western staff notation.
Western staff notation uses a series of five horizontal lines and four spaces to represent the different pitches of musical notes. The lines and spaces are named after the notes of the C major scale: C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Notes are placed on the lines and spaces to indicate their pitch, and the duration of each note is indicated by its shape. For example, a whole note is a filled-in circle, a half note is an open circle, and a quarter note is a filled-in oval.