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==History== Before the advent of clefs, the reference line of a staff was simply labeled with the name of the note it was intended to bear: ''F'', ''C'', or sometimes ''G''. These were the most common 'clefs', or {{lang|la|litterae clavis}} (key-letters), in Gregorian chant notation. Over time the shapes of these letters became stylised, leading to their current versions. Many other clefs were used, particularly in the early period of chant notation, keyed to many different notes, from the low ''Γ'' (''gamma'', the G on the bottom line of the bass clef) to the G above middle C (written with a small letter ''g''). These included two different lowercase ''b'' symbols for the note just below middle C: round for B{{Music|flat}}, and square for B{{Music|natural}}. In order of frequency of use, these clefs were: ''F'', ''c'', ''f'', ''C'', ''D'', ''a'', ''g'', ''e'', ''Γ'', ''B'', and the round and square ''b''.<ref>Smits van Wasberghe 1951, 33.</ref> In later medieval music, the round ''b'' was often written in addition to another clef letter to indicate that B{{Music|flat}} rather than B{{Music|natural}} was to be used throughout a piece; this is the origin of the [[key signature]]. [[File:G-Schluessel.png|thumb|Early forms of the G clef—the third combines the G and D clefs vertically]] In the [[Polyphonic Era|polyphonic period]] up to 1600, unusual clefs were occasionally used for parts with extremely high or low tessituras. For very low bass parts, the Γ clef is found on the middle, fourth, or fifth lines of the staff (e.g., in [[Pierre de La Rue]]'s ''Requiem'' and in a mid-16th-century dance book published by the Hessen brothers); for very high parts, the high-D clef (''d''), and the even higher ''ff'' clef (e.g., in the ''[[Mulliner Book]]'') were used to represent the notes written on the fourth and top lines of the treble clef, respectively.<ref>Hiley 2001; P. and B. Hessen 1555.</ref> The practice of using different shapes for the same clef persisted until very recent times. The F-clef was, until as late as the 1980s in some cases (such as hymnals), or in British and French publications, written like this: [[File:Oldbassclef.svg|45px]] In printed music from the 16th and 17th centuries, the C clef often assumed a ladder-like form, in which the two horizontal rungs surround the staff line indicated as C: [[File:Mensural c clef 06.svg|40px]]; this form survived in some printed editions ([[:File:Far Above Cayuga's Waters 1906.png|see this example]], written in [[TTBB|four-part men's harmony]] and positioned to make it equivalent to an octave G clef) into the 20th century. The C-clef was formerly written in a more angular way, sometimes still used, or, more often, as a simplified ''K''-shape when writing the clef by hand: [[File:Old C-clef.png|45px]] In modern Gregorian chant notation the C clef is written (on a four-line staff) in the form [[File:C clef neume.gif|30px]] and the F clef as [[File:F clef neume.gif|30px]] The flourish at the top of the G-clef probably derives from a cursive ''S'' for "sol", the name for "G" in [[solfege]].<ref>Kidson 1908, 443-44.</ref> [[File:AdesteFidelesLilyPhil.png|thumb|300px|right|Vocal music can be contracted into two staffs, using the treble and bass clefs.]] C clefs (along with G, F, Γ, D, and A clefs) were formerly used to notate vocal music. Nominally, the soprano voice parts were written in first- or second-line C clef (''soprano clef'' or ''mezzo-soprano clef'') or second-line G clef (''treble clef''), the alto or tenor voices in third-line C clef (''alto clef''), the tenor voice in fourth-line C clef (''tenor clef'') and the bass voice in third-, fourth- or fifth-line F clef (''baritone'', ''bass'', or ''sub-bass clef''). Until the 19th century, the most common arrangement for vocal music used the following clefs:<!--The immediately preceding paragraph says otherwise. Neither is sourced, so the first one to come up with a verifying citation wins?--> <!-- this one does appear in most sources prior: manuscripts (ex. Bach's or Telemann's), printed scores (ex. mostly everything from Breitkopf und Härtel up to that point), even occasionally keyboard music! --> * Soprano = soprano clef (first-line C clef) * Alto = alto clef (third-line C clef) *Tenor = tenor clef (fourth-line C clef) * Bass = bass clef (fourth-line F clef) In more modern publications, four-part music on parallel staffs is usually written more simply as: * Soprano = treble clef (second-line G clef) * Alto = treble clef * Tenor = treble clef with an ''8'' below ''or'' a double treble clef. Many pieces, particularly those from before the 21st century, use an unaltered treble clef, with the expectation the tenors will still sing an octave lower than notated. * Bass = bass clef (fourth-line F clef) This may be reduced to two staffs, the soprano and alto sharing a staff with a treble clef, and the tenor and bass sharing a staff marked with the bass clef.
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