A clef indicates the name of the notes on one line of the staff, in relation to which the notes of the other lines and spaces may be determined. In this case, the G-clef assigns the note G to the second line.

A clef (from the French for "key") is a musical symbol used to indicate the pitch of written notes. See also Modern musical symbols Music notation or musical notation is any system which represents aurally perceived Music through the use Pitch represents the perceived Fundamental frequency of a sound In Music, the term note has two primary meanings 1 a sign used in Musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a Sound; ^[1] Placed on one of the lines at the beginning of the staff, it indicates the name and pitch of the notes on that line. In standard Western Musical notation, the staff ( AmE) or stave This line serves as a reference point by which the names of the notes on any other line or space of the staff may be determined.

The types of clef

There are three types of clef used in modern music notation: F, C, and G. Each type of clef assigns a different reference note to the line on which it is placed.

This clef. . .	is called. . .	and assigns the note. . .	to the line. . .
	the G-clef	G above Middle C	encircled by the curl of the clef.
	the C-clef	Middle C	that passes through the center of the clef.
	the F-clef	F below Middle C	between the two dots of the clef.

Once one of these clefs has been placed on one of the lines of the staff, the other lines and spaces can be read in relation to it.

The use of three different clefs makes it possible to write music for all instruments and voices, even though they may have very different tessituras (that is, even though some sound much higher or lower than others). In Music, the term tessitura ( Italian for texture) generally describes the most musically acceptable and comfortable Timbre for a given This would be difficult to do with only one clef, since the modern staff has only five lines, and the number of pitches that can be represented on the staff, even with ledger lines, is not nearly equal to the number of notes the orchestra can produce. In standard Western Musical notation, the staff ( AmE) or stave A ledger line or leger line is Musical notation to inscribe Notes outside the lines and spaces of the regular Musical staffs A line slightly The use of different clefs for different instruments and voices allows each part to be written comfortably on the staff with a minimum of ledger lines. To this end, the G-clef is used for high parts, the C-clef for middle parts, and the F-clef for low parts - with the important exception of transposing parts, which are written at a different pitch than they sound, often even in a different octave. A transposing instrument is a musical instrument for which written notes are played at a pitch different from concert pitch, which a non-transpositing instrument such as a

The positions of the clefs

In order to facilitate writing for different tessituras, any of the clefs may theoretically be placed on any of the lines of the staff. The further down on the staff a clef is placed, the higher the tessitura it is for; conversely, the higher up the clef, the lower the tessitura.

Since there are five lines of the staff, and three clefs, it might seem that there would be fifteen possible clefs. Six of these, however, are redundant clefs (for example, a G-clef on the third line would be exactly the same as a C-clef on the first line). That leaves nine possible distinct clefs, all of which have been used historically: the G-clef on the two bottom lines, the F-clef on the three top lines, and the C-clef on any line of the staff except the topmost, earning the name of "movable C-clef". (The C-clef on the topmost line is redundant because it is exactly equivalent to the F-clef on the third line; both ways of writing this clef have been used).

Each of these clefs has a different name based on the tessitura for which it is best suited.

Nowadays, only four clefs are used regularly: the treble clef, the bass clef, the alto clef, and the tenor clef. Of these, the treble and bass clefs are by far the most common.

Individual clefs

Here follows a complete list of the clefs, along with a list of instruments and voice parts notated with them. Each clef is shown in its proper position on the staff, followed by its reference note.

An obelisk (†) after the name of a clef indicates that that clef is now obsolete. A dagger ( †, &dagger U+ 2020 is a typographical symbol or Glyph.

G-clefs

The treble clef

When the G-clef is placed on the second line of the staff, it is called the "treble clef". This is by far the most common clef used today, and the only G-clef still in use. For this reason, the terms G-clef and treble clef are often seen as synonymous. It was formerly also known as the "violin clef. "

This clef is used for the bagpipes, violin, flutes, oboe, English horn, all clarinets, all saxophones, horn, euphonium (occasionally), trumpet, guitar, vibraphone, xylophone and handbells; for the upper part of keyboard instruments like the piano, organ, harp, and harpsichord (of which the lower part is usually written in the bass clef); for the highest notes played by the cello (the old convention was to write an octave higher, unless preceded by a tenor clef), bassoon, trombone (which otherwise use the bass and tenor clefs), and viola (which otherwise uses the alto clef); and for the soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, and tenor voices. Bagpipes are a class of Musical instrument, Aerophones using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag The violin is a bowed String instrument with four strings usually tuned in Perfect fifths It is the smallest and highest-pitched member The flute is a Musical instrument of the Woodwind family Unlike other woodwind instruments a flute is a Reedless wind instrument that produces its "Hautbois" redirects here for the strawberry variety see Hautbois strawberry. The cor anglais, or English horn, is a Double reed Woodwind Musical instrument in the Oboe family The clarinet is a Musical instrument in the Woodwind family The name derives from adding the suffix -et meaning little to the Italian word The saxophone (commonly referred to simply as sax) is a conical- bored transposing Musical instrument considered a member of the Woodwind The euphonium is a conical-bore, Baritone -voiced Brass instrument. The guitar is a Musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a Musical instrument in the mallet subfamily of the percussion family The xylophone (from the Greek words ξύλον - xylon, "wood" + φωνή - phone, "voice" meaning "wooden A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a Musical keyboard. The piano is a Musical instrument played by means of a keyboard that produces sound by striking steel strings with Felt covered hammers The organ (from Greek όργανον – organon "organ instrument tool" is a Keyboard instrument of one or more divisions each The harp is a Stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicular to the soundboard. A harpsichord is a Musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. The violoncello (abbreviated to cello, or 'cello, plural cellos or celli —the c is tʃ The bassoon is a Woodwind instrument in the Double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and Tenor registers and occasionally The trombone is a Musical instrument in the brass family Like all brass instruments it is a lip-reed Aerophone: sound is produced when the player’s The viola is a bowed String instrument. It is the middle voice of the Violin family, This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type. This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type. Alto is a musical term derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" that has several possible interpretations The tenor is the highest male voice within the Modal register, just above the Baritone voice

The notes starting on the bottom line bottom to top line are:

E, F, G, A, B, C, D, E, F

The French violin clef^†

When the G-clef is placed on the first line of the staff, it is called the "French clef" or "French violin clef".

This clef is no longer used. Formerly, it was used by the flute and violin, especially in parts published in France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Its placement causes the note names on the staff to be identical to those of the bass clef.

F-clefs

The bass clef

When the F-clef is placed on the fourth line, it is called the "bass clef". This is the only F-clef used today, so that the terms "F-clef" and "bass clef" are often regarded as synonymous.

This clef is used for the cello, euphonium, double bass, bass guitar, bassoon, contrabassoon, trombone, tuba, and timpani; for the lower part of keyboard instruments like the piano, organ, marimba and harpsichord (of which the upper part is usually written in treble clef); and for the lowest notes of the horn; and the baritone and bass voices. The violoncello (abbreviated to cello, or 'cello, plural cellos or celli —the c is tʃ The euphonium is a conical-bore, Baritone -voiced Brass instrument. The double bass is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed String instrument used in the modern symphony orchestra. The electric bass guitar (also called electric bass, or simply bass; ˈbeɪs as in "base" is a Stringed instrument played primarily with the The bassoon is a Woodwind instrument in the Double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and Tenor registers and occasionally The contrabassoon is a larger version of the Bassoon sounding an octave lower The trombone is a Musical instrument in the brass family Like all brass instruments it is a lip-reed Aerophone: sound is produced when the player’s Mediatubaogg -->The tuba is the largest and lowest pitched Brass instrument. Timpani (also known colloquially as kettledrums or kettle drums) are Musical instruments in the percussion family A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a Musical keyboard. The piano is a Musical instrument played by means of a keyboard that produces sound by striking steel strings with Felt covered hammers The organ (from Greek όργανον – organon "organ instrument tool" is a Keyboard instrument of one or more divisions each A harpsichord is a Musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type.

The notes starting on the bottom line bottom to top line are:

G, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A

The baritone clef^†

When the F-clef is placed on the third line, it is called the baritone clef.

This clef is no longer used. Formerly, it was used to write the baritone part in vocal music.

The subbass clef^†

When the F-clef is placed on the fifth line, it is called the subbass clef. This is unique among the other F-clefs in that it is the same note arrangement as the treble clef.

This clef is no longer used. Formerly, it was used to write low bass parts, e. g. in the works of Heinrich Schütz. Heinrich Schütz (October 8 ( JC) 1585 Köstritz - November 6 1672 Dresden) was a German Composer and organist, generally regarded

C-clefs

The alto clef

When the C-clef is placed on the third line of the staff, it is called the alto clef. As with all C-clefs, this line indicates the position of middle C.

This clef (sometimes called the viola clef) is currently used for the viola, the viola da gamba, and the alto trombone. The viola is a bowed String instrument. It is the middle voice of the Violin family, The viol (also called viola da gamba) is any one of a family of bowed, Fretted stringed Musical instruments developed in the 1400s There are many different types of trombones. The most frequently encountered trombones today are the tenor and bass though as with other Renaissance instruments such as the Recorder ^[2] Formerly, it was used for the alto voice and by instruments playing a middle part (oboes, recorders, etc. Alto is a musical term derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" that has several possible interpretations "Hautbois" redirects here for the strawberry variety see Hautbois strawberry. The recorder is a woodwind Musical instrument of the family known as Fipple Flutes ' or internal duct flutes &mdash whistle-like ) It occasionally turns up in keyboard music to the present day (Brahms' Organ chorales, John Cage's Dream for piano). Johannes Brahms ( pronounced ˈbʁaːms (May 7 1833 &ndash April 3 1897 was a German Composer The organ (from Greek όργανον – organon "organ instrument tool" is a Keyboard instrument of one or more divisions each A chorale was originally a Hymn of the Lutheran church sung by the entire congregation WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> John Milton Cage Jr The piano is a Musical instrument played by means of a keyboard that produces sound by striking steel strings with Felt covered hammers

The notes starting on the bottom line bottom to top line are:

F, G, A, B, C, D, E, F, G

The tenor clef

When the C-clef is placed on the fourth line of the staff, it is called the tenor clef. The tenor is the highest male voice within the Modal register, just above the Baritone voice

This clef is used for the upper ranges of the bassoon, violoncello, euphonium, double bass, and trombone (which all use the bass clef in their lower and middle ranges, and in their extreme high ranges, the treble clef as well). The bassoon is a Woodwind instrument in the Double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and Tenor registers and occasionally The violoncello (abbreviated to cello, or 'cello, plural cellos or celli —the c is tʃ The euphonium is a conical-bore, Baritone -voiced Brass instrument. The double bass is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed String instrument used in the modern symphony orchestra. The trombone is a Musical instrument in the brass family Like all brass instruments it is a lip-reed Aerophone: sound is produced when the player’s Formerly, it was used by the tenor part in vocal music but its use has been largely supplanted either with an octave version of the treble clef when written alone or the bass clef when combined on one staff with the bass part. The tenor is the highest male voice within the Modal register, just above the Baritone voice Vocal music is Music performed by one or more Singers with or without non-vocal instrumental accompaniment

The baritone clef^†

Occasionally in the past, the C-clef was placed on the fifth line, and it is called the baritone-clef, like the baritone F-clef on the third line, to which it is exactly equivalent. Because of this equivalency, it was rarely used in the past; the baritone F-clef was used instead.

The mezzo-soprano clef^†

When the C-clef is placed on the second line of the staff, it is called the mezzo-soprano clef.

This clef is no longer used. Formerly, it was used in vocal music to write mezzo-soprano parts.

The soprano clef^†

When the C-clef occurs on the first line of the staff, it is called the soprano clef.

This clef is no longer used. Formerly, it was used in vocal music to write soprano parts. The soprano trombone uses this clef too. There are many different types of trombones. The most frequently encountered trombones today are the tenor and bass though as with other Renaissance instruments such as the Recorder Although this trombone is seldom used today, some works of J. S. Bach call for it.

Other clefs

Octave clefs

Sometimes a small 8 is attached to a clef to show that an instrument or voice part sounds an octave above or below the written note. Octave clefs allow the performer to easily read a line in a clef they are familiar with (normally the treble or bass clefs) when the true note values of the line would otherwise require the use of a large number of ledger lines to denote the pitch in relation to the staff of the standard clef. A ledger line or leger line is Musical notation to inscribe Notes outside the lines and spaces of the regular Musical staffs A line slightly

This is most often found in tenor parts in SATB settings, in which a treble clef is written with an eight below it, indicating the pitches sound an octave below the written value. The tenor is the highest male voice within the Modal register, just above the Baritone voice SATB is a frequent initialism for Soprano, Alto, Tenor, bass, referring to a common scoring for choruses and choirs As the true tenor clef has generally fallen into disuse in vocal writings, this "octave-dropped" treble clef is often called the tenor clef. The same clef is sometimes used for the baritone horn. In some scores, the same concept is construed by using a double clef -- two G-clefs overlapping one another.

At the other end of the spectrum, treble clefs with an 8 positioned above the clef is often used in piccolo, penny whistle and other high woodwind parts and is sometimes known (informally) as the "sopranino clef".

The F clef can also be notated with an octave marker. The F clef notated an octave down is sometimes used for contrabass instruments such as the double bass and contrabassoon and, as the traditional subbass clef has fallen into disuse, that term is sometimes used to describe this clef. The double bass is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed String instrument used in the modern symphony orchestra. The contrabassoon is a larger version of the Bassoon sounding an octave lower The F clef notated an octave up is used for bass recorder and sometimes, though seldom, used for countertenor parts and called the countertenor clef, as it is easy for a bass or baritone to read while singing the part in falsetto. The recorder is a woodwind Musical instrument of the family known as Fipple Flutes ' or internal duct flutes &mdash whistle-like This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type. The term falsetto (Italian diminutive of falso, false refers to the Vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the Modal voice register and However, both of these are extremely rare (and in fact the countertenor clef is largely intended to be humorous as with the works of P.D.Q. Bach). P D Q Bach is a fictional composer invented by musical satirist "Professor" Peter Schickele. The unmodified bass clef is so common that performers of instruments and voice parts whose ranges lie below the staff simply learn the number of leger lines for each note through common use, and if a line's true notes lie significantly above the bass clef the composer or publisher will often simply write the part in either the true treble clef or notated an octave down.

Neutral clef

The neutral or percussion clef is not a clef in the same sense that the F, C, and G clefs are. It is simply a convention that indicates that the lines and spaces of the staff are each assigned to a percussion instrument with no precise pitch. With the exception of some common drum-kit and marching percussion layouts, the keying of lines and spaces to instruments is not standardized, so a legend or indications above the staff are necessary to indicate what is to be played. Percussion instruments with identifiable pitches do not use the neutral clef, and timpani (notated in bass clef) and mallet percussion (noted in treble clef or on a grand staff) are usually notated on different staves than unpitched percussion. The Grand Staff using both bass clef on the bottom and treble clef on top allows for four octaves of notation counting the two high leger lines for Soprano C and two leger lines

Staves with a neutral clef do not always have five lines. Commonly, percussion staves only have one line, although other configurations can be used.

The neutral clef is sometimes used when non-percussion instruments play non-pitched extended techniques, such as hitting the body of a violin, violoncello or acoustic guitar, or when a vocal choir is instructed to clap, stomp, or snap, but more often the rhythms are written with X marks in the instrument's normal staff with a note placed above as to the appropriate rhythmic action. Extended techniques are performance techniques used in Music to describe unconventional unorthodox or "improper" techniques of Singing, or of

Tablature

For guitars and other plucked instruments, it is possible to notate tablature in place of ordinary notes. Tablature (or Tabulature) is a form of Musical notation, which tells players where to place their fingers on a particular instrument In this case, a TAB-sign is often written instead of a clef. The number of lines of the staff is not necessarily five: one line is used for each string of the instrument (so, for standard six-stringed guitars, six lines would be used, four lines for the traditional bass guitar). Numbers on the lines show on which fret the string should be played. This Tab-sign, like the Percussion clef, is not a clef in the true sense, but rather a symbol employed instead of a clef.

History

Gregorian chant clefs: C, F

The clefs developed at the same time as the staff, in the 10th century. In standard Western Musical notation, the staff ( AmE) or stave Originally, instead of a special clef symbol, the reference line of the staff was simply labeled with the name of the note it was intended to bear: G, F, or C. These were the 'clefs' used for Gregorian chant. Over time, the shapes of these letters became stylized; eventually resulting in the shapes we have today.

Two other clefs have been used as well, the D-clef and the Gamma-clef, indicating the notes now represented by the fourth line of the treble clef and the first line of the bass clef, respectively; but these fell out of use.

Several variant shapes of the different clefs persisted until very recent times. The F-clef was, until very recently, written like this: .

The C-clef was formerly written in a more angular way than now, and many people still use this, or a further simplified K-shape, when writing the clef by hand. The flourish at the top of the G-clef probably derives from a cursive S for "sol", the name for "G" in solfege. In Music, solfège ('soʊlfɛʒ also called solfeggio, sol-fa, or solfa) is a Pedagogical Solmization technique for the ^[3]

Vocal music can be contracted into two staves, using the treble and bass clefs

C-clefs were formerly used to notate vocal music, a practice that dwindled away during the late 19th century. The soprano voice was written in 1st line C clef (soprano clef), the alto voice in 3rd line C clef (alto clef), the tenor voice in 4th line C clef (tenor clef) and the bass voice in 4th line F clef (bass clef).

In more modern publications, four part harmony on parallel staves is usually written more simply as:

• S(oprano) = treble clef (2nd line G clef)
• A(lto) = treble clef
• T(enor) = treble clef with an "8" below or a double treble clef
• B(ass) = bass clef (4th F clef)

Alternatively, is reduced to two staves, one with the treble and one with the bass clef. In Western music, harmony is the use of different pitches simultaneously and chords actual or implied in Music.

Further uses

One more use of the clefs is training in sight reading: the ability to read in any clef is useful for being able to transpose on sight (see sight transposition), although in that case the tessitura implied by the given clef must be ignored. In Music transposition refers to the process of moving a collection of notes ( pitches) up or down in pitch by a constant interval. It is then only necessary to use seven clefs, so that any written note can take any of the seven different names (A, B, C, D, E, F, G). Students in French and Belgian conservatories and music schools, amongst others, are thoroughly drilled in this kind of exercise and solfeggios meant for use in those institutions are about the only scores where one will find nowadays a 1st line or 2nd line C clef or a 3rd line F clef. In Music, solfège ('soʊlfɛʒ also called solfeggio, sol-fa, or solfa) is a Pedagogical Solmization technique for the For some reason, the 3rd line F clef (the baritone clef) is preferred in the French and Belgian pedagogical tradition to the equivalent 5th line C clef. This may have something to do with the fact that very early medieval scores had only 4 line staffs, hence possibly the avoidance in some particularly traditionalist circles to write a clef on the 5th line, though this is arguably more likely due to the visual impact of the fact that the 3rd line F clef is contained entirely within the staff whilst half of the 5th line C clef protrudes above it.

References

• Dandelot, Georges. Georges Édouard Dandelot (b Paris, Dec 2 1895 –- d Saint-Georges-de-Didonne ( Charente-Maritime) Aug Manuel pratique pour l'étude des clefs. Revised by Bruno Giner and Armelle Choquard. Eschig 1999.
• Kidson, Frank. The Evolution of Clef Signatures. In 'The Musical Times', Vol. 49, No. 785 (Jul. 1, 1908), pp. 443-444.
• Kidson, Frank. The Evolution of Clef Signatures (Second Article). In 'The Musical Times, Vol. 50, No. 793 (Mar. 1, 1909), pp. 159-160
• Morris and Ferguson. Preparatory Exercises in Score-Reading.

Notes