Clef
A clef (French for key) is a symbol used in musical notation that assigns notes to lines and spaces on the musical staff. A clef can be thought of as assigning a certain note to a specific line on the staff; adjacent spaces are assigned the notes that follow logically.
There are three commonly used types of clef symbols: the G clef, the F clef, and the C clef. All of these clef symbols intentionally resemble the cursive forms of their respective letters. They have letter names because they assign the note with that name to a particular line on the staff.
Use of clefs
The use of a particular clef specifies a certain tessitura:
- the F clef assigns its line to the F below middle C
- the C clef assigns its line to middle C
- the G clef assigns its line to the G above middle C
In this way, the positioning of different clefs on different lines may imply the same tessitura (see below for the 5th line F clef vs. the 2nd line G clef, and for the 1st line G clef vs. the 4th line F clef).
However the musical range can be further modified by using the "8" or "15" symbols. An "8" immediately above or below a G or F clef symbol indicates that the tessitura should be an octave higher or lower. A "15" may be used to indicate a two-octave shift on the top of the clef, but this is rarely used.
For example, guitar music and vocal tenor parts are understood to sound an octave lower than written, and this is often indicated with an "8" below the treble clef. The small piccolo flute plays an octave above the normal flute, and occasionally its music is written in G clef with an "8" above it (see transposing instrument). Some publishers of such parts may omit the "8"; usage in these cases is not uniform.
The tessitura implied by a clef can also be modified throughout the music with the 8va (variants: 8, 8a, 8vb) or 15ma notations.
In some cases the tessitura implication of the clef is ignored, e.g. when the use of a clef is simply a drill meant as a preparation for the skill of sight transposition.
The following image shows most of the clefs found in modern musical notation:
But why all these different clefs? Although only four are common today, as many as eight have been used previously. The reason is to avoid the use of ledger lines.
The G clef
The G clef is composed of a spiral in the approximate form of a capital letter G, overlaid on a stretched letter S. It assigns the note G to a line on the staff, determined by the curl of the "G" symbol. It is normally placed on the staff with the spiral originating from the second line; this usage of the G clef is so common that the name treble clef is often used as a synonym, but the G clef can be placed on other lines: in the baroque period, for example, the G clef was sometimes placed on the first line of the staff for music with a high range, known today as the French clef.
The treble clef
The treble clef is the most widely-used clef, followed by the bass clef. It uses the G clef symbol to assign the note G above middle C to the second line from the bottom of the staff.
Most woodwind instruments read treble clef (even low-pitched transposing instruments), as well as high brass, violins, tuned percussion, and other instruments of acute tone. On the piano, the right hand usually is written in treble clef, while the left hand is written in bass clef. In vocal music, both Soprano and Contralto parts now use the treble clef, whereas in former centuries they would have each used their own clef. The word treble is also used of people, especially in the Anglican and English Catholic traditions, to refer to a boy who sings as a soprano, in contrast to the term boy soprano used elsewhere.
The origin of the application of the term treble, a doublet of "triple" or "threefold" (from Latin triplus, "triple"; cf. "double" from duplus), to the highest voice or part comes from early plainsong. The chief melody was given to the tenor, the second part to the alto (discantus, or contralto), and where a third part (triplum) was added, it was assigned to the highest voice, the soprano or treble.
The French clef
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a special clef was used for violin music, particularly that published in France. For this reason it is known as the French violin clef or French clef although it was even more commonly used for flute music. Being a G clef rather than a C clef, it sets the position of the G above middle C - in this case, on the bottom line of the five line stave. This clef implies the highest tessitura of all. It is sometimes used in Eb clarinet or Eb trumpet music.
The F clef
Two symbols, both a stylized letter F, are used to represent the F clef, although the one pictured above is more commonly used. The two dots of the F clef surround the line that represents the note F. The most common use of the F clef is the bass clef, which places F on the 2nd line from the top of the staff; the name "F clef" is frequently used to mean the bass clef. However, the F clef has historically been used on other lines of the musical staff, most notably on the middle line, when it is known as the baritone clef (one can also use as baritone clef the entirely equivalent 5th line C clef). This usage is nowadays very rare, however.
- The 5th line F clef, or subbass clef, used e.g. in scores by Heinrich Schütz, implies the same note names as the 2nd line G clef but is used two octaves down from the 2nd line G clef; in other words the names of the notes are the same for both clefs but their tessituras are 2 octaves apart. When the tessitura implications of clefs are followed strictly, the 5th line F clef is the lowest clef (i.e. the clef implying the lowest tessitura).
- The 3rd line, 4th line and 5th line G clefs are never used because they are not needed: they are entirely equivalent to, respectively, the 1st line, 2nd line and 3rd line C clefs
- The 2nd line and 1st line F clefs are never used since they are entirely equivalent to, respectively, the 4th line and 3rd line C clefs.
The bass clef
The bass clef uses the F clef to assign the note F immediately below middle C to the second line from the top of the staff. Most lower-pitched instruments, such as the lower brass, strings and bassoon read bass clef; also choral music for bass and baritone parts are usually also written in the bass clef. On the piano, the left hand is usually written in bass clef, while the right hand is written in treble clef.
The subbass clef and the baritone clef
The baritone clef sets F 3rd line of the staff, while the subbass clef sets the F below middle C on the 5th line of the staff.
The C clef
The most common C clef symbol is the one shown, resembling two backwards letter 'C's, one above the other. The line that falls between the 'C's is assigned the note middle C. There are two common clefs that use the C clef symbol: The alto clef, which assigns C to the middle line of the staff, and the tenor clef, which assigns C to the second line from the top of the staff. The C clef is sometimes also used to indicate the mezzo-soprano clef, which assigns C to the second line from the bottom of the staff. The C clef on the bottom line is named the soprano clef, which is occasionally seen in music for violin and clarinet in A.
- The 5th line C clef, or baritone clef, is often written as the 3rd line F clef; both ways are exactly equivalent.
- The C-clef can be used in manuscript as shorthand. Between the two staffs of a double-staff piano score, it signifies a treble clef on the upper staff (in which the first ledger line below the staff is the so called middle C) and a bass clef on the lower staff (in which the first ledger line above the staff is that same middle C).
The alto clef
The alto clef uses the C clef to assign the note middle C to the middle line of the staff. The alto clef is used by violas and occasionally by trombones. It is also used in some older vocal music.
The tenor clef
The tenor clef uses the C clef to assign the note middle C to the second line from the top of the staff. It is used in some older vocal music. Bassoons, cellos and trombones, which normally read the bass clef, use the tenor clef to avoid excessive ledger lines in extended high passages.
The mezzo-soprano clef
The mezzo-soprano clef uses the C clef to assign the note middle C to the fourth line from the top of the staff. Although the clef is rarely used, it is sometimes used in mezzo-soprano parts to create minimal use of ledger lines.
Baritone clef (C clef)
The Baritone clef uses the C clef to assign the note middle C to the very top line of the staff. This clef is not used in everyday music and is only found when the composer wishes to keep ledger lines in the baritone part to a minimum.
Soprano clef
The soprano clef uses the C clef to assign the note middle C to the bottom line of the staff. The clef is used, rarely, for soprano parts of a piece of music.
Percussion clef
The percussion clef is not a clef in the same sense that the F, C and G clefs. 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: e.g. bass drum on the 1st line, snare drum on the 3rd line, hi-hat on the 5th line is a common assignment. Percussion instruments with identifiable pitches, such as kettledrums (timpani) are assigned their own staff in orchestral scores. Kettledrums are written in the bass clef.
Octave clefs
Even with the freedom to move C, G and even F clefs around on the five line staff, you will find occasions when the musical line is still too high or too low to fit neatly onto the five line staff. A useful device that overcomes this problem is one that moves the musical line up or down an octave. The music is read as though at one octave but sounds either an octave higher or an octave lower than it is written. To make a clef an octave lower a small 8 is added beneath it, likewise, to make a clef an octave higher a small 8 is added above it.
Clefs in vocal music
In vocal or choral sheet music, polyphony is often displayed with each voice on its own staff. Until about 100 years ago, the 1st line C clef (soprano clef) was commonly used for the soprano voice. In the same context the alto voice would be written 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, 4 part harmony on parallel staffs is usually written more simply as:
- S(oprano) = treble clef
- A(lto) = treble clef
- T(enor) = treble clef with an "8" below
- B(ass) = bass clef
The above 4 lines of music are sometimes contracted into 2 staffs, to save space, particularly in simpler pieces of music. In this case the soprano and alto voices occupy the upper staff, with the treble clef, and the tenor and bass voices occupy the lower staff, with the bass clef.
Historical note
These clefs developed at the same time as the staff, in the 10th century. Gregorian chant used moveable C- and the F-clefs on its early four-line staff.
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. It is then only necessary to use 7 clefs, so that any written note can take any of the 7 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. For some unclear reason, the 3rd line F 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.
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