grand staff

noun

variants or less commonly grand stave

: a pair of five-line staffs connected by a brace that contain the music for a single instrument (such as a piano, xylophone, or harp)

Middle C, located near the center of the keyboard, falls in the center of the grand staff.

—Tricia Woods, Easy Soloing for Jazz Keyboard, 2008

also : a set of three five-line staffs that contain the music for an organ's manuals and pedals

called also great staff, great stave

see staff

Word History

First Known Use

1874, in the meaning defined above

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