Most beginning music theorists are familiar with basic music notation – treble and bass clefs, staves, ledger lines, and accidentals – due to time spent performing as an instrumentalist or vocalist. If you are uncomfortable with any of aspect of these concepts, you can review by reading the explanations under the Further Reading section of Discussion 1a.
Even though most college music students are familiar with reading music, they are usually far more comfortable when working in the clef most associated with their primary instrument or voice-part. It is vital that musicians be fluent in not only the two most common clefs – treble and bass – but also with two additional clefs: alto clef and tenor clef. These clefs are commonly used by instruments such as viola, cello, trombone, and bassoon. They alleviate the use of ledger lines in the extreme registers of an instrument, so it is imperative that you become comfortable reading music in all of the most common clefs.
Treble clef is sometimes referred to as a G-clef, and bass clef can be called an F-clef. Alto and tenor clefs are known as C-clefs.
Use the examples below to find:
The lines and spaces of each clef are:
Clefs have secondary names because each clef is centered around the pitch in its name. The bass clef’s dots surround an F, and the two C-clefs are centered on middle C. Treble clef, however, not only encircles the G at the center of its spiral, but it evolved from a stylized G.
For a well-researched, short article on the evolution of clefs, I suggest reading Jimmy Stamp’s The Evolution of the Treble Clef from the Smithsonian website.
When asked about their methods, past students suggested working on clefs via: