Music Clef

What is a music clef? It is a sign placed at the beginning of the staff. It determines which pitch goes where in sheet music. The most common clefs are the treble clef and the bass clef. Less common music clefs include the alto clef, the tenor clef, the vocal tenor clef and the neutral clef. For more information on what the musical staff is made up of and how to read notes on them, visit the Musical Staff page.

Treble Clef

The treble clef (also called G clef) looks like this:

If you see a treble clef at the beginning of the sheet music, it means that you'll find E on the first line (i.e. on the bottom line). Middle C (the C you can find in the middle of the piano or keyboard) is on the first ledger line (the first extra line added below the bottom line). The rest of the notes come in the usual order (E, F, G, A, B, C, D) and they repeat after each octave.

Bass Clef

This is what a bass clef (also called F clef) looks like:

If there is a bass clef at the beginning of the staff, you'll know that there is going to be a G on the first line, A on the first space and so on. Middle C is on the first ledger line after the fifth line on the top.

Alto Clef

The alto clef (also called C clef) looks like this:

The center of the alto clef is on the middle line. And on this middle line you'll find Middle C. If the center of this clef is on another line, it will have a different name based on which line it is centered on. See tenor clef. The alto clef is used by the viola.

Tenor Clef

This is what the tenor clef looks like:

In this case, the center of the clef is on the fourth line, therefore you'll find Middle C on the fourth line too. Many instruments use this music clef.

Vocal Tenor Clef

The vocal tenor clef looks like this:

You take a treble clef and write a small number 8 at the bottom. In this music clef, Middle C is going to be on the third space. It's used for the tenor voice in choirs.

Neutral Clef

This is what the neutral clef looks like:

It's used for instruments that don't use pitches, especially percussion instruments. The neutral clef doesn't show you any pitches only the rhythm. You can use it with a two-line staff or with a full five-line staff if needed. To tell you which percussion instrument belongs to which line, they use the abbreviated name of the instrument, for example "b.d" for bass drum.

Other Clefs

• If you place the C clef on the bottom line, you call it soprano clef.
• If you place the C clef on the second line, you call it mezzo-soprano clef.
• If you place the C clef on the fifth (top) line, you call it baritone clef.

The reason why there are so many music clefs is that there are several pitches (just look at a piano) and you have to include all of those in the sheet music. If there weren't so many clefs, it would be a difficult job to write down and read music.

Key signatures are also placed differently with each music clef but the pattern of sharps and flats remains the same.



More Music Theory