The use of different clefs makes it possible to write music for all instruments and voices, regardless of differences in range.
A clef may be placed on a space instead of a line, but this is rare. The C-clef is mostly encountered as alto clef (placing middle C on the third line) or tenor clef (middle C on the fourth line).
In modern music notation, the G-clef is most frequently seen as treble clef (placing G4 on the second line of the stave), and the F-clef as bass clef (placing F3 the fourth line).
Placing these clefs on a line fixes a reference note to that line-an F-clef fixes the F below middle C, a C-clef fixes middle C, and a G-clef fixes the G above middle C. The three clef symbols used in modern music notation are the G-clef, F-clef, and C-clef.
When a clef is placed on a stave it assigns a particular pitch to one of the five lines, which in turn gives pitch value to the remaining lines and spaces. Middle C represented on (from left to right) treble, alto, tenor and bass clefsĪ clef (from French: clef 'key') is a musical symbol used to indicate which notes are represented by the lines and spaces on a musical stave.
