PJHTech PaperChoose music staff spacing
Line spacing controls the size of the notes. The gap between staves controls the room around them.
Five lines, four spaces
A five-line staff has four spaces from its top line to its bottom line. Multiply the line spacing by four to find the staff height.
| Line spacing | Staff height | A4 portrait staves* |
|---|---|---|
| 1.75 mm | 7 mm | 13 |
| 2 mm | 8 mm | 12 |
| 3 mm | 12 mm | 10 |
Leave space outside the staff
*The counts above use 15 mm page margins and a 14 mm gap between staves. The generator centers the complete groups in the available area. Changing the page size, margins or gap changes the count.
Use a larger gap when adding lyrics or many ledger lines. Making the gap wider does not make the five staff lines farther apart. For separate exercises, keeping one exercise per staff makes corrections easier to place.
Print the intended size
Download the PDF and select the matching paper size. Print at Actual size or 100%; Fit changes the line spacing as well as the margins. These sheets leave clefs and bar lines blank.