The stave (or the staff) is the notational foundation for music. Below is an image of a blank stave, with five lines and four spaces, which music is written on to:

When you place a note on the stave:

• It’s vertical position indicates its pitch, and
• It’s horizontal position represents its length.

So, the higher a note is on the stave, the higher its pitch is. The more bar space a note takes up, the longer it is.

Here is a percussive stave which only has one line:

It only has one line because unpitched percussive instruments do not have pitch, they only need to know the length of their notes.

On the main stave, music notes are annotated on the lines or in the spaces. Be careful when writing notes down on the stave, as obscure notes are difficult to play as they make performers confused.

Notes are not limited by the stave, when it comes to pitch, as ledger lines broaden the pitch range.

Ledger Lines

Ledger lines are small lines written above or below the stave. They expand the pitch range of the stave and allow you to play higher or lower notes than those in the current range of the staff.

However, when you have multiple notes that require ledger lines, either above or below the stave, you do not join the ledger lines up.

If you do, it will make the music obscure to the reader. They will find it difficult to differentiate between the stave lines and the ledger lines, as a consequence of this.

The ledger lines should look like this, with multiple notes above the stave:

To know which precise notes to play, when reading music, you need to read the clef, the time signature, the note values, and the tempo marking.

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References:

https://musiclessoncentre.blogspot.com/2011/04/music-theory-staff-or-stave_02.html?showComment=1598800469534#c2910369628864967598

toonpool.com/user/10602/files/musicians_washing_line_1_1904885.jpg

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/ledger-line

https://myblg.music.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/bc6fb-staff_ledger.png