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.

Related Topics:
French - Symbol - Musical notation - Notes - Musical staff

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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.

Related Topics:
Cursive - Letter

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The use of a particular clef also implies a certain tessitura: the F clef assigns its line specifically to the F below middle C, the C clef assigns its line to middle C and the G clef assigns its line to the G above middle C (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 tessitura can be modified by using the "8" or "15" symbols:

Related Topics:
Tessitura

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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, 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 omit the "8"; usage in these cases is not uniform.

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The tessitura implied by a clef can also be modified in the course of a score with the 8va (variants: 8, 8a, 8vb) or 15ma notations.

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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 (see below).

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The following image shows most of the clefs found in modern musical notation:

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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.

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