The piano is a keyboard instrument that has a range of eight octaves, or groups of notes labeled A through G. Piano sheet music consists of two groups of five lines connected at each end by a vertical black bar. These are called staves (the plural of staff). The two staves are stacked one atop the other, with a space between them. The top staff is called the treble, which depicts notes played from the center of the piano, up. The bottom staff is called the bass, which depicts notes played from the center down. Notes on the treble staff are high in pitch and notes on the bass staff are low in pitch.
A flute is a high-pitched instrument, which has a range from the middle of the piano, which is called Middle "C", up three octaves. Because flutes are a high-pitched instrument, their sheet music consists of only a single treble staff. The notes for the flute are like those of a piano, dark ovals for 32nd, 16th, 8th and quarter notes and open circles for the half and whole notes. The 32nd, 16th and 8th notes have flags on top of rods attached to the ovals. Eighth notes have a single flag, 16th notes have two flags and 32nd notes have three flags.
The guitar is a stringed instrument that has a range of up to five octaves, depending on whether the guitar is acoustic or electric. Guitar sheet music is separated into either guitar tabs, which show the chord progressions above the lyrics, and at the top of the page will show a string rhythm. The chord progressions tell the guitarist what strings to hold down while plucking the strings in the opposite hand according to the rhythm.
A harmonica is a metal device that fits in the palm of your hand containing square holes that, when air is passed through, range from low to high pitch beginning on the left-hand side. Each square hole of a standard harmonica is numbered from one to 10. The sheet music tells the performer what hole to inhale or exhale through to produce the desired sound. Exhalations are positive numbers and inhalations are negative numbers.
Drum sets contain multiple percussive objects, including snare drums, bass drums, various cymbals, tom-toms and a hi-hat, which is a pair of cymbals that open and close using a foot pedal. The sheet music is similar to piano, having the rhythms and durations of instrumental music, but it also contains other characters like an "X" mounted on a straight line for the hi-hat, an asterisk for the ride cymbal and an open circle with an "X" inside to represent a drum technique called cross-sticking. The different drums occupy different lines, the bass drum occupies the lowest position on the staff between the fourth and fifth lines. Tom-toms are played between the first and second, second and third, and third and fourth lines. The snare drum is played with notes that cut along the third line.