What is "ledger line"

Ledger \Ledg"er\(l[e^]j"[~e]r), n. [Akin to D. legger layer, daybook (fr. leggen to lay, liggen to lie), E. ledge, lie. See Lie to be prostrate.]

1. A book in which a summary of accounts is laid up or preserved; the final book of record in business transactions, in which all debits and credits from the journal, etc., are placed under appropriate heads.

2. (Arch.)

   1. A large flat stone, esp. one laid over a tomb.
      --Oxf. Gloss.

   2. A horizontal piece of timber secured to the uprights and supporting floor timbers, a staircase, scaffolding, or the like. It differs from an intertie in being intended to carry weight. [Written also ligger.]

      Ledger bait, fishing bait attached to a floating line fastened to the bank of a stream, pond, etc.
      --Walton.
      --J. H. Walsh.

      Ledger blade,a stationary shearing blade in a machine for shearing the nap of cloth.

      Ledger line. See Leger line, under 3d Leger, a.

      Ledger wall (Mining), the wall under a vein; the foot wall.
      --Raymond.

alt. A musical notation to inscribe notes outside the lines and spaces of the regular musical staff; a line slightly longer than the note is drawn parallel to the staff, above or below, spaced at the same distances as the notes within the staff. n. A musical notation to inscribe notes outside the lines and spaces of the regular musical staff; a line slightly longer than the note is drawn parallel to the staff, above or below, spaced at the same distances as the notes within the staff.

n. a short line; a notation for extending the range above or below the staff [syn: leger line]

A ledger line or leger line is used in Western musical notation to notate pitches above or below the lines and spaces of the regular musical staff. A line slightly longer than the note head is drawn parallel to the staff, above or below, spaced at the same distance as the lines within the staff (see Figure 1).

The origin of the word is uncertain, but may have been borrowed attributively from the term used to describe a horizontal timber in a scaffolding, lying parallel to the face of the building and supporting the putlogs. There is no basis to support the often-found claim that the word originates from the French léger, meaning "light" or "slight" .

Although ledger lines are found occasionally in manuscripts of plainchant and early polyphony, it was only in the early 16th century in keyboard music that their use became at all extensive . Even then printers had an aversion to ledger lines which caused difficulties in setting type, wasting space on the page and causing a messy appearance. Vocal music employed a variety of different clefs to keep the range of the part on the staff as much as possible; in keyboard notation a common way of avoiding ledger lines was the use of "open score" on four staves with different clefs .

Except for woodwind players, who prefer ledger lines to all'8 notation because they associate fingerings with staff positions , notes that use at least four ledger lines make the music generally impractical to read. The composer would usually switch clefs or use the 8va notation. Some transposing instruments, such as the piccolo, double bass, guitar, and the tenor voice, transpose at the octave to avoid ledger lines.

Notation of tuba, trombone, and euphonium parts always use ledger lines below the bass staff, and never the 8 bassa notation .

When music for bass clef instruments, such as the cello or trombone, goes several ledger lines above the bass clef, the tenor clef is used; if it were to go even higher than practical in tenor clef, the notes may be notated in treble clef, or in the case of trombone, alto clef.