Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Clef |
ClefNoun1. A musical notation written on a staff indicating the pitch of the notes following it. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "clef" was first used: 1576. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A clef (French for key) is a symbol used in musical notation that assigns notes to lines and spaces on the musical staff. A clef can be thought of as assigning a certain note to a specific line on the staff; adjacent spaces are assigned the notes that follow logically.
There are three commonly used types of clef symbols: the G clef, the F clef, and the C clef, All of these clef symbols intentionally resemble the cursive forms of their respective letters. They have letter names because they assign the note with that name to a particular line on the staff.
Writing an "8" immediately above a clef symbol shifts the notes of the staff up an octave; likewise, writing the 8 beneath the clef symbol shifts the notes down an octave. This notation is used mostly for the G and F clefs.
The G Clef
The G clef assigns the note G to a line on the staff, determined by the curl of the "G" symbol. It is normally placed on the staff with the spiral originating from the second line; this usage of the G clef is so common that the name treble clef is often used as a synonym (see below), but the G clef can be placed on other lines: in the baroque period, for example, the G clef was sometimes placed on the first line of the staff for music with a high range. The G clef on the bottom line is called "French Violin clef" which works for Eb clarinet or Eb trumpet music.
The Treble Clef
The treble clef is probably the most widely-used clef, followed by the bass clef. It uses the G clef symbol to assign the note G above middle C to the second line from the bottom of the staff. Most woodwind instruments read treble clef, as well as high brass, violins, and tuned percussion. On the piano, the right hand usually is written in treble clef, while the left hand is written in bass clef.
The treble clef
The F Clef
Two symbols, both a stylized letter F, are used to represent the F clef, although the one below is more commonly used. The two dots of the F clef surround the line that represents the note F. The most common use of the F clef is the bass clef, which places F on the 2nd line from the top of the staff; the name "F clef" is frequently used to mean the bass clef. However, the F clef has historically been used on other lines of the musical staff, most notably on the middle line, when it is known as the baritone clef. This usage is nowadays very rare, however.
The Bass Clef
The bass clef uses the F clef to assign the note F below middle C to the second line from the top of the staff. Most lower-pitched instruments, such as the lower brass, strings and woodwinds read bass clef. On the piano, the left hand is usually written in bass clef, while the right hand is written in treble clef.
The bass clef
The C Clef
The C clef resembles two backwards letter 'C's, one above the other. The line that falls between the 'C's is assigned the note middle C. There are two common clefs that use the C clef symbol: The alto clef, which assigns C to the middle line of the staff, and the tenor clef, which assigns C to the second line from the top of the staff. The C clef is sometimes also used to indicate the mezzosoprano or flautalto clef, which assigns C to the second line from the bottom of the staff. The C clef on the first line means soprano clef which works for violin and the clarinet in A.
The Alto Clef
The alto clef uses the C clef to assign the note middle C to the middle line of the staff. The alto clef is used by violas and occasionally by trombones. It is also used in vocal music.
The alto clef
The Tenor Clef
The tenor clef uses the C clef to assign the note middle C to the second line from the top of the staff. Cellos read the tenor clef; it is also used in vocal music. Bassoons and trombones, which normally read the bass clef, use the tenor clef to avoid excessive ledger lines in extended high passages.
The tenor clefBut why all these different clefs? Although only four are common today, as many as eight have been used previously. The reason is, oddly not a musical but a mechanical one. In the days of early printing presses (i.e, the renaissance) leger lines were difficult to print, so a wide variety of clefs were subsequently used.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Clef."
Crosswords: Clef |
| English words defined with "clef": alto, alto clef ♦ Bass clef ♦ C clef, C.P.U., Counter-tenor clef ♦ F clef ♦ G clef ♦ key signature ♦ signature, soprano clef ♦ tenor clef, treble clef ♦ viola clef, Viola da braccio. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "clef": Gammut ♦ Key of a Cipher. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "clef": Clavicle. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Clef" is also a word in the following language with English translations in parentheses. French (adjustable wrench, clef, key, pivotal, spanner, wrench). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | La Clef de l'horloge (1958) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Bust view of woman wearing treble clef headpiece, yellow dress, and red necklace. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
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| "Treble clef" by Jan Sundstedt Commentary: "This treble clef was made by my son, David, at a beach in northern Denmark during the summer of -03." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Play | Caption |
 | A G played in the bass clef of a piano. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | At the same time, however, industry consolidation is occurring since Kim's Club and Nasan Clef are now experiencing liquidation problems because of excessive debt and the bankruptcy of their mother companies. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Clef" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 98.44% of the time. "Clef" is used about 64 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 98.44% | 63 | 42,364 |
| Noun (proper) | 1.56% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 64 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "clef": Alto clef ♦ bass clef ♦ C clef ♦ F clef ♦ g clef ♦ roman a clef ♦ soprano clef ♦ tenor clef ♦ tenor clef © ♦ treble clef ♦ viola clef ♦ violin clef. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "clef": alto-clef, treble-clef. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
clef treble | 100 | arpel clef van | 6 |
bass clef | 62 | clef gospel | 6 |
clef | 38 | art clef clip treble | 6 |
black clef gospel music | 20 | clef karen von | 5 |
clef de sol | 19 | bass clef tattoo | 5 |
clef picture treble | 19 | clef tenor | 5 |
clef g | 17 | clef pallet | 5 |
black clef gospel | 17 | bass clef scale | 5 |
bass clef note | 14 | clef note treble | 5 |
clef image treble | 11 | clef gif treble | 5 |
clef usb | 10 | bass clef picture | 4 |
clef tattoo treble | 9 | clef gospel music | 4 |
clef graphic treble | 8 | clef roman | 4 |
clef de la sol | 8 | bass clef reading | 4 |
base clef | 7 | clef umi | 4 |
alto clef | 7 | clef porte | 4 |
clef lip | 7 | bass clef graphic | 4 |
bass clef read | 7 | clef rayearth | 3 |
clef music | 7 | clef record y | 3 |
clef palate | 6 | clef nord porte | 3 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "clef"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | çelës (clue, key, knob, picklock, spanner, wrench). (various references) | |
Arabic | علامة موسيقية (note), المفتاح (key). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | ключ (cab, crib, key, keystone, keyword, peg, signature, switch). (various references) | |
Czech | klíè (key, spanner). (various references) | |
Dutch | sleutel (key, wrench), muzieksleutel. (various references) | |
Esperanto | kleo. (various references) | |
Farsi | مفتاح (Keyword, Opener, Passkey), چنگال (Claw, Clutch, Fork, Grain, Nail, Paw, Pitchfork, Prong, Rake, Talon), ترک خورده , ترک (Abandonment, Chap, Crack, Craze, Fracture, Interstice, Proscription, Quit, Renunciation, Turkish), شکاف دار (Cloven, Crazy), شکاف (Break, Chap, Chasm, Chink, Crack, Craze, Crevice, Cut, Fraction, Fracture, Hiatus, Incision, Interstice, Nick, Notch, Overture, Rake, Rip, Scar, Seam, Slash, Slit, Slither, Split, Suture). (various references) | |
Finnish | nuottiavain. (various references) | |
French | clef (a small switch for opening or closing an electric circuit), clé. (various references) | |
German | schlüssel (cipher, clefs, code, key, key's, passport, ratio, spanner, tools, wrench), notenschlüssel. (various references) | |
Greek | κλειδί (clue, key), μουσική κλείσ. (various references) | |
Hungarian | hangjegykulcs. (various references) | |
Indonesian | kunci musik. (various references) | |
Italian | chiave (adjustable, adjustable wrench, key, passport, spanner, stop, wrench). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 音部記号 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | おんぶきごう. (various references) | |
Manx | ogher [f] (headstone, key, keystone, legend, peg), ogher (headstone, key, keystone, legend, peg). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | efclay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | clave (key). (various references) | |
Romanian | cheie (clue, key, secret, Tommy). (various references) | |
Russian | ключ (clue, fountain-head, key, spring, wrench). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | muzički ključ. (various references) | |
Spanish | clave (cembalo, cipher, code, crypt, cypher, harpsichord, key). (various references) | |
Swedish | klav (key, keynote). (various references) | |
Turkish | nota anahtarı, anahtar (cipher, clew, clue, cotter, key, spanner, switch, wrench). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | ключ (caravan, clew, fountain, key, passkey, secret). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | clavis. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "clef": clefs, cleft, clefted, clefting, clefts. (additional references) | |
| |
"Clef" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Cedf, ceef, Cef, ceff, cel, Celf, Chlef, cief, cilf, cle, clea, cleaf, clec, Cled, cleef, cleel, clei, clen, cleo, clep, cler, cles, clet, clev, cleve, cley, clez, cli, clief, clif, clife, clir, cliv, clouf, clye, coef, creef, cref, culf, cxe, elef, kelf, Klaff, kle, klef, lc-lec, lef, slef. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| Words ending with "ef": Chef, Nef, tref. (additional references) |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-e-f-l" | |
-1 letter: cel, elf. | |
-2 letters: ef, el. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-e-f-l" | |
+1 letter: clefs, cleft, fecal, fleck. | |
+2 letters: clefts, coffle, facile, faecal, falces, fecial, feckly, fecula, fickle, fleche, flecks, flecky, fleece, fleech, fleecy, flench, fletch. | |
+3 letters: befleck, cageful, careful, chiefly, clefted, coffled, coffles, deflect, elflock, faculae, falcate, fecials, feculae, felucca, fetlock, fickler, fictile, filched, filcher, filches, flacked, fleches, flecked, fleeced, fleecer, fleeces, flicked, flicker, flocced, flocked, flounce, fluency, flueric, freckle, freckly, funicle, icefall, inflect, lucifer, malefic, reflect, scuffle. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Images: Digital Art 8. Sounds | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Translations: Ancient 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
