Editing Clef (section)

== Individual clefs ==
This section shows a complete list of the clefs, along with a list of instruments and voice parts notated with them. A [[Dagger (mark)|dagger (†)]] after the name of a clef indicates that the clef is no longer in common use.

[[File:GClef.svg|left|G-clef|40px]]

===G-clefs===

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==== {{anchor|treble_corn}} Treble clef ====
[[File:Treble clef with ref.svg|left|90px|Treble clef]]
[[File:C scale treble clef.png|thumb|C major scale, treble clef. {{audio|Diatonic scale on C.ogg|Play}}]]
The only G-clef still in use is the [[Treble (sound)|treble]] clef, with the G-clef placed on the second line. This is the most common clef in use and is generally the first clef learned by music students.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Greer |first=Amy |date=2003 |title=In Praise of Those Grass-Eating Cows |journal=[[American Music Teacher]]|volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=22–25 |jstor=43547681 }}</ref> For this reason, the terms "G-clef" and "treble clef" are often seen as synonymous. The treble clef was historically used to mark a treble, or pre-pubescent, voice part.

Instruments that use the treble clef include [[violin]], [[flute]], [[oboe]], [[cor anglais]], all [[clarinets]], all [[saxophones]], [[French horn|horn]], [[trumpet]], [[cornet]], [[vibraphone]], [[xylophone]], [[mandolin]], [[recorder (musical instrument)|recorder]], [[bagpipe]] and [[guitar]]. [[Euphonium]] and [[baritone horn]] are sometimes treated as transposing instruments, using the treble clef and sounding a major ninth lower, and are sometimes treated as concert-pitch instruments, using bass clef. The treble clef is also the upper staff of the [[grand staff]] used for [[harp]] and [[keyboard instrument]]s. Most high parts for bass-clef instruments (e.g. [[cello]], [[double bass]], [[bassoon]], and [[trombone]]) are written in the tenor clef, but very high pitches may be notated in the treble clef. The [[viola]] also may use the treble clef for very high notes. The treble clef is used for the [[soprano]], [[mezzo-soprano]], [[alto]], [[contralto]] and [[tenor]] voices. Tenor voice parts sound an octave lower and are often written using an octave clef (see below) or a double-treble clef.

===={{anchor|french_violin_clef}}French violin clef<sup>†</sup>====
[[File:French clef with ref.svg|left|90px|French clef]]
[[File:C scale French violin clef.png|thumb|C major scale, French violin clef. {{audio|Diatonic scale on C sopranino clef.ogg|Play}}]]

A G-clef placed on the first line is called the French clef, or French violin clef. It was used in France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries for violin music and flute music.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dolmetsch Online – Music Theory Online – Other Clefs|url=http://www.dolmetsch.com/musictheory14.htm|website=www.dolmetsch.com|access-date=1 September 2016}}</ref> It places the notes in the same staff positions as the bass clef, but two octaves higher.

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[[File:FClef.svg|left|F-clef|40px]]

===F-clefs===

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==== {{anchor|Baritone clef}}Baritone clef<sup>†</sup> ====
[[File:Baritone clef with ref.svg|left|90px|Baritone clef]]
[[File:C scale baritone clef.png|thumb|C major scale, baritone F-clef. {{audio|Diatonic scale on C bass clef.ogg|Play}}]]
[[File:Baritone C clef with ref.svg|left|90px|Baritone clef]]
[[File:C scale baritone C-clef.png|thumb|C major scale, baritone C-clef. {{audio|Diatonic scale on C bass clef.ogg|Play}}]]

When the F-clef is placed on the third line, it is called the baritone clef. Baritone clef was used for the left hand of keyboard music (particularly in France; see [[Bauyn manuscript]]) and for baritone parts in vocal music. A C-clef on the fifth line creates a staff with identical notes to the baritone clef, but this variant is rare.
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===={{anchor|bass_clef}} Bass clef====
[[File:Bass clef with ref.svg|90px|left|Bass clef]]
[[File:C scale bass clef.png|thumb|C major scale, bass clef. {{audio|Diatonic scale on C bass clef.ogg|Play}}]]

The only F-clef still in use is the bass clef, with the clef placed on the fourth line. Since it is the only F-clef commonly encountered, the terms "F-clef" and "bass clef" are often regarded as synonymous.

Bass clef is used for the [[cello]], [[Bass (instrument)|double bass and bass guitar]], [[bassoon]] and [[contrabassoon]], [[bass recorder]], [[trombone]], [[tuba]], and [[timpani]]. It is used for [[baritone horn]] or [[euphonium]] when their parts are written at concert pitch, and sometimes for the lowest notes of the [[French horn|horn]]. [[Baritone]] and [[bass (vocal range)|bass]] voices also use bass clef, and the [[tenor]] voice is notated in bass clef if the tenor and bass are written on the same staff. Bass clef is the bottom clef in the [[grand staff]] for [[harp]] and [[keyboard instrument]]s. Double bass, bass guitar, and contrabassoon sound an octave lower than the written pitch; some scores show an "8" beneath the clef for these instruments to differentiate from instruments that sound at the actual written pitch (see "Octave clefs" below).
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===={{anchor|sub-bass_clef}}Sub-bass clef<sup>†</sup>====
[[File:Subbass clef with ref.svg|left|90px|Sub-bass clef]]
When the F-clef is placed on the fifth line, it is called the sub-bass clef. It was used by [[Johannes Ockeghem]] and [[Heinrich Schütz]] to write low bass parts, by [[Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe]] for low notes on the bass viol, and by [[J. S. Bach]] in his ''[[The Musical Offering|Musical Offering]]''.

It is the same as the treble clef, but two octaves lower.
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[[File:CClef.svg|left|C-clef|40px]]

===C-clefs===

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===={{anchor|alto_clef}} Alto clef====
<!-- Linked from redirect [[Viola clef]] -->
[[File:Alto clef with ref.svg|left|90px|Alto clef]]
[[File:C scale alto clef.png|thumb|C major scale, alto clef. {{audio|Diatonic scale on C.ogg|Play}}]]

A C-clef on the third line of the staff is called the alto or viola clef. It is currently used for [[viola]], [[viola d'amore]], [[alto trombone]], [[viola da gamba]], and [[mandola]]. It is also associated with the [[countertenor]] voice and sometimes called the countertenor clef.<ref>Moore 1876, 176; Dolmetsch Organisation 2011.</ref> A vestige of this survives in [[Sergei Prokofiev]]'s use of the clef for the [[cor anglais]] in his symphonies. It occasionally appears in keyboard music (for example, in [[Brahms]]'s [[Eleven Chorale Preludes|Organ Chorales]] and [[John Cage]]'s ''Dream'' for [[piano]]). It was originally used for [[alto]] parts in choral music to reduce the number of [[ledger line]]s needed, since much of the alto range is between treble and bass clef. Alto parts are now commonly written in treble clef instead.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ben |date=2020-01-30 |title=Alto Clef |url=https://www.musictheoryacademy.com/how-to-read-sheet-music/alto-clef/ |access-date=2024-03-22 |website=Music Theory Academy |language=en-US}}</ref>
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===={{anchor|tenor_clef}} Tenor clef====
[[File:Tenor clef with ref.svg|left|90px|Tenor clef]]
[[File:C scale tenor clef.png|thumb|C major scale, tenor clef. {{audio|Diatonic scale on C bass clef.ogg|Play}}]]

A C-clef on the fourth line of the staff is called tenor clef. It is used for the [[viola da gamba]] (rarely, and mostly in German scores; otherwise the alto clef is used) and for upper ranges of bass-clef instruments such as the bassoon, cello, euphonium, double bass, and [[tenor trombone]]. Treble clef may also be used for the upper extremes of these bass-clef instruments. [[Tenor violin]] parts were also written in this clef (see e.g. [[Giovanni Battista Vitali]]'s Op.&nbsp;11). It was used by the tenor part in [[vocal music]] but its use has been largely supplanted either with an octave version of the treble clef or with bass clef when tenor and bass parts are written on a single staff.

[[File:Far Above Cayuga's Waters 1906.png|thumb|right|Male chorus arrangement showing use of ladder-shaped C-clef.]]

Another tenor clef variant, formerly used in music for [[TTBB|male chorus]],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Blood |first1=Brian |title=Other Clefs |url=https://www.dolmetsch.com/musictheory14.htm |website=Dolmetsch Online |access-date=May 9, 2023}}</ref> has a ladder-like shape. This C-clef places the C on the third space of the staff, and is equivalent to the [[#Octave clefs|sub-octave treble clef]]. See also [[#History|History]].
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===={{anchor|mezzo-soprano_clef}}Mezzo-soprano clef<sup>†</sup>====
[[File:Mezzo-soprano clef with ref.svg|left|90px|Mezzo-soprano clef]]
[[File:C scale mezzo soprano clef.png|thumb|C major scale, mezzo-soprano clef. {{audio|Diatonic scale on C.ogg|Play}}]]

A C-clef on the second line of the staff is called the mezzo-soprano clef, rarely used in modern Western classical music. It was used in 17th century French orchestral music for the second viola or first tenor part ('taille') by such composers as Lully, and for mezzo-soprano voices in operatic roles, notably by [[Claudio Monteverdi]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Curtis|first=Alan|date=1989-04-01|title=La Poppea Impasticciata or, Who Wrote the Music to La Poppea Impasticciata (1643)?|journal=[[Journal of the American Musicological Society]]|volume=42|issue=1|pages=23–54|doi=10.2307/831417|issn=0003-0139|jstor=831417}}</ref> Mezzo-soprano clef was also used for certain flute parts during renaissance, especially when doubling vocal lines.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Thomas |first=Bernard |date=1975 |title=The Renaissance Flute |journal=[[Early Music (journal)|Early Music]]|volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=2–10 |jstor=3125300 |doi=10.1093/earlyj/3.1.2 }}</ref> In [[Music of Azerbaijan|Azerbaijani music]], the [[Tar (Azerbaijani instrument)|tar]] uses this clef.{{Citation needed|date=August 2020}}

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===={{anchor|soprano_clef}}Soprano clef<sup>†</sup>====
[[File:Soprano Clef - trimmed.png|left|90px|Soprano clef]]
[[File:C scale soprano clef.png|thumb|C major scale, soprano clef. {{audio|Diatonic scale on C.ogg|Play}}]]

A C-clef on the first line of the staff is called the soprano clef. It was used for the right hand of keyboard music (particularly in France – see [[Bauyn manuscript]]), in vocal music for sopranos, and sometimes for high [[Viol|viola da gamba]] parts along with the alto clef. It was used for the second violin part ('haute-contre') in 17th century French music.

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[[File:C-clefs.png|600px|thumb|center|The same line on the staff in different clefs means different pitches.<br>The line indicating C (going from the center of a clef) is marked in orange. <br> The clefs as numbered in the diagram are: <br> {{olist |Soprano clef |Mezzo-soprano clef |Alto clef |Tenor clef |Baritone clef}}]]