What is a clef? [Light] [Beginner] [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] [Drums and Percussion] [Guitar] [Choir] [Keyboard] [Soloist]

The possible pitch range of notes largely exceeds the 9 notes played in the above example. In other words, it is possible to play notes much lower than the note placed on the first line of the staff or much higher than the note placed on the fifth line. As we will see further, it is possible to place additional lines on which to place higher or lower notes. Here are examples:

This technique is nevertheless limited to 3 or 4 additional lines below or above the staff, because using more lines makes the score difficult to read. By placing a clef at the beginning of the staff, the pitch of all notes can be changed. Let us see this in more detail.

We had seen that the sound consists of air vibrations. The higher the sound, the more vibrations there is and the higher the note is placed on the staff.

To locate a note on the staff, it is not enough to say that it is lower or higher than another. It is necessary to establish a precise reference on which everyone can agree. This reference is established by placing a clef at the beginning of the staff. There are several reference systems for notes and each one is marked by a different clef.

The most current clef is the treble clef (or G clef). With this clef, a note placed in the second line spacing corresponds to a sound making the air vibrate 440 times a second:

The second most current clef is the bass clef (or F clef). This key is used for notes lower than the treble clef, i.e. notes which would require too many additional lines with a treble clef. Here are for example three notes with a bass clef:

You can notice that the same sound (440 vibrations a second) is represented at different places according to the clef. For this reason, a staff must always start by indicating the clef in which the notes will have to be located. The key is then valid for all following notes and does not have to be drawn again in each measure. It is also possible to change the clef in the middle of a staff. One draws the new clef starting from the place where it is valid.

Open the Ex002 file, also located in the Examples folder:

This example starts with a bass clef and changes to the treble clef starting from the third measure. Five notes are placed at the same position for both clefs. Listen to the sound result with the space bar. The notes placed after the bass clef are much lower than those placed after the treble clef.

Further in the course, we will come back in more detail on the pitch of notes and the relation with the clefs. The purpose here is simply to show you how the use of clefs makes it possible to move the pitch of the notes lower or higher on the staff.