Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 2, No. 12 (1928-09)

The Phonograph Monthly Review 433 September, 1928 *3t L— ■ ' 1 -M - - ■ 3SV roiddic C rnddlc c r '%> ^ gfe TeT\or ClcF flLTo CLfeF •SOPRANO CLEF ■*v r T; t * of the orchestra will be found a fascinating sub- ject. There is still much to be learned, however, be- fore every strand in the complicated web of sound produced by an orchestra is appreciated at its true value and those who, having gone so far, desire to take a further step towards this goal will find in the next chapter a brief explanation of some of the mysteries of clefs and transposi- tions. Clefs and Transpositions The word clef means key and the hieroglyphic character found at the beginning of a stave of music denotes the clef in which such music is written and determines the actual pitch of each note on the stave. As the piano and violin are the instruments usually played by amateurs, many people are only familiar with the G or treble clef which is represented in Fig. 1. and the F or bass clef which is represented in Fig. 2. In old music use was made of staves whose number of lines varied from four to as many as twenty five but these extravagances and varia- tions were abolished during the 17th century and since that date the stave of five lines has been universally used. The so-called Great Stave of eleven lines, however, is useful for illustrating the corelationship of the clefs in use to-day. The familiar bass and treble staves are both included in this Great Stave and consist of the lowest and highest five lines respectively (Fig. 3.) The only other clef in use nowadays is that in C of which, however, there are three varieties known respectively as the soprano clef, the alto clef and the tenor clef. The symbol used is shown in (Fig. 4.) and the position which this symbol occupies on the stave denotes which line thereof represents the note “middle” C (Fig. 5.) and so indicates which of the three clefs, soprano, alto or tenor, is intended (Fig. 6.) Thus we see that (Fig. 7) indicates the tenor clef, of which the fourth line is “middle” C, (Fig. 8.) indicates the alto clef of which the third line is “middle” G, and Fig. 9. indicates the soprano clef, of which the first line is “middle” C. In all cases, there- fore, it would really be more accurate to say that notes are written “on the tenor, alto or soprano stave” than “in the tenor, alto or soprano clef.” So far as instrumental music is concerned the soprano clef is practically obsolete but the alto and tenor clefs are in regular use by some in- struments. These various clefs are distributed among the instruments as follows:—the violins use the treble clef and the violas use the alto clef but change to the treble for their highest notes. The 'cellos use the bass and tenor clefs and even the treble clef occasionally. The latter is apt to cause some confusion as the passages in the treble clef are sometimes intended to be read an octave lower than written (as in writing for the tenor voice) and sometimes they are intended to be read as written. The former practice is now obsolete but instances will be found in some classical scores. The double-basses use the bass clef and occasionally in the tenor clef and in each case the note played is an octave lower than that written. The flutes, oboes, cor anglais, and clar- inets use the treble clef. The piccolo also uses this clef but sounds an octave higher than writ- ten. The bassoon uses both the bass and tenor clefs and the double bassoon uses the bass clef exclusively and transposes an octave lower than written. The trumpets and horns both use the treble clef though passages for the lower register of the horns are often found written in the bass clef in old scores. The tenor and bass trombones use their corresponding clefs but each will some- times be found written for in the other's clef. The tuba and kettledrums use the bass clef. To become familiar with the various clefs found in an orchestral score is, therefore, a task of some difficulty and as there is no royal road to success considerable practice is necessary be- fore complete success can be attained. Another technicality which creates consider- able difficulty is that certain instruments do not