The term 'musical symbol on a stave' can be summarized as a CLEF, which is a four-letter word. A CLEF is a musical symbol that is placed at the beginning of a staff in musical notation. It indicates the pitch of the notes written on the lines and spaces of the staff. The most common clefs are the treble CLEF, bass CLEF, and alto CLEF. Each CLEF is used to represent a different range of pitches, allowing musicians to read and write music in any key.