Why Do We Have Different Clefs in Music?
1. What is a Clef? 🎼
One of the most important symbols to understand when learning to read music is the various clefs that you will come across. Unlike many symbols in music reading, a clef can leave you playing the completely wrong notes if you aren’t familiar with them.
So what actually is a clef?
Well, a clef is a symbol that is at the start of each line (system) in a piece of music. There are 4 main clefs that are important to understand; treble, bass, tenor and alto clefs!
Each of these clefs shows us how to read the notes on the stave/staff (the five lines). Although many musicians at the beginning stages of learning think that there is only one way to read the stave, there is actually many!
The treble clef is the most common clef and is also known as the “G clef”, this is because the spiral in the middle of the treble clef shows us where a G is (the second line of the stave).
The bass clef is also a very common clef and is known as the “F clef”, this is because the line between the two dots in the bass clef is the note F (the 4th line on the stave).
The alto and the tenor clef are both known as “C clefs” because the centre of the symbol shows us the note C (for alto, C is the middle line and for tenor, C is is the 4th line).
2. Why Do We Have Clefs? 🤷🏻♂️
The reason that we have various different clefs is actually quite simple. All of the various instruments that we use in music play at different pitches. A tuba plays very low in pitch, whereas a piccolo plays very high in pitch. If we had one standard way of reading the notes on the stave, then the tuba would be playing notes far below the stave and the piccolo would be playing notes far above the stave.
To make sure it’s possible for each instrument to be able to use the stave effectively and be able to read the music easily, we use different clefs for different pitch ranges!
The treble clef covers the middle to upper range of pitches and the bass clef covers the lower to middle range of pitches and this is why these are the two clefs that are used for the piano. Between these two clefs you can see a lot of notes!
The alto and tenor clefs are used for instruments that are in-between. These might be instruments that play a little bit lower than the treble clef comfortably shows but they can still play some of those higher pitches as well. In this case you would use the alto clef. The tenor clef is for those lower instruments that might be able to play a little bit higher than the bass clef allows for.
3. Which Instruments Use Them? 🎻
So now you know the four most common clefs and why we use them, you might be able to have a guess at which instruments use which clefs.
As I’ve mentioned, the piano uses the treble clef and the bass clef as most notes are covered between these two clefs.
Here are some examples of instruments that use the various clefs:
Treble Clef (higher pitched instruments)
Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Violin, Guitar (classical), Trumpet, Recorder…
Bass clef (lower pitched instruments)
Tuba, Trombone, Bassoon, Cello, Double Bass, Bass Guitar, Timpani…
Tenor Clef (lower middle instruments)
The tenor clef is most frequently used by instruments that generally play using the bass clef. For example, if a cello is playing particularly high notes…then the clef may change to the tenor clef to make it easier to read.
Alto Clef (higher middle instruments)
The most common example of alto clef usage is the viola. The viola is similar to a violin (which uses treble clef), however it is very slightly lower in pitch…so the alto clef accommodates the instrument better.
While many different clefs are used for different pitch ranges, it’s important for composers to know which clefs certain instrumentalists are familiar with reading. If a pianist was suddenly expected to play using the tenor clef because most of the notes in that piece of music happen to fit within this pitch range, it would become quite challenging for the player as they won’t be familiar with using the tenor clef. So it’s important to think of clefs as tied to certain instruments and the pitch ranges that the instrument would usually use.
Matthew Cawood
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