Questions tagged [clefs]
A clef (from French: clef “key”) is a musical symbol used to indicate the set of pitches of written notes.
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Can saxophones be in the clef as their name?
For example, can alto sax be in alto clef, tenor sax in tenor clef, etc.
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15 over/down Treble/Bass Clef in Finale26 MakeMusic
I'm on Finale 26 MakeMusic and I'd like to create a Treble/Bass Clef with 15 over/down the clef. For example if Key7 is Octave Bass Clef I'd like to change the 8 into 15, obtaining a Double-Octave ...
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LilyPond: How to add a graphical object (clef)
I need to add a custom clef symbol instead of the traditional ones.
(The example below I created with Photoshop.)
Is this possible?
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What do notes on the neutral clef mean? [duplicate]
When writing notes on the neutral clef for percussion, do the notes correspond to different instruments (bass drum, snare drum, etc.) or do the notes represent something else?
Here's an example:
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Treble clef change during a piece
I originally asked this as a follow up on this thread, 8va or clef change? but it was suggested by "Elements in Space" (thanks, Elements!) that I should ask this as a new question, and link ...
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In a classical guitar score, when a section plays very low notes, is it better to use 8va bassa, G clef transposed 1 octave down or the F clef?
My music knowledge background
I never studied music in a music school, but I've composed music for some years and know some theory that I've picked up and read about over the years. I do not have much ...
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Why aren't clefs aligned with octaves? [duplicate]
It looks like my questions is largely answered by Why not use only octave clefs?. I'm going to leave this here anyways in case it's useful for others.
Hello!
I've got a genuine question, although I'm ...
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Why is my bass clef inverted? [closed]
I have downloaded an early printed Beethoven sonata where the bass clef is upside down and looks more like a C? Why? What am I missing?
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How to count when bass and treble clefs share notes or chords
I'm totally new to piano. I have a background in guitar, programming and some math, therefore I tend to think a little in an "exact number of boxes" fashion or "an array of numbers"...
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Am I Doing It Wrong? Why Can't I Use Multiple 5-Line Staves to Represent Guitar's Open Strings?
As a rock songwriter with interest in theory, I sometimes score my music to engage with it differently. I’d open MuseScore, create 3 treble clef staves—one for the voice and two for the guitars—and a ...
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Why do clef octave changes use '8' and '15'? [duplicate]
I found this list of octave clefs on Wikipedia. Here, there's a series of octave clefs listed as using 8 and 15 to alter the clef by one or two octaves respectively.
My understanding of music theory ...
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Baritone clefs, difference between these two
I am using the Clefs app from the Google Play store.
I would like to know, why are there two baritone clefs and what is the difference between them?
If they are different, then why haven't they been ...
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Why doesn't vocal music use C clefs nowadays? [duplicate]
I've noticed that in older scores the tenor parts (and sometimes the alto parts) are notated using C clefs, but nowadays you almost never see C clefs but instead the tenor parts are notated using an ...
user59346
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Why not use only octave clefs?
There are a lot of clefs: G, F, and many C clefs. And it is not trivial to read some clef is you are familiar with another one. I think music comprehension would be made easier if we only used one ...
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Is this a tenor clef?
My wind band is playing Saint-Saens' Pas Redouble, using the Josneau arrangement published by Evette & Schaeffer. It's on IMSLP. The bassoon part is mostly in bass clef, but occasionally uses a ...
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Why don't all transposing instruments have transposing clefs?
Is there a reason for which some transposing instruments (say, horns in F, bass clarinets etc.) don't have transposing clefs? For some instruments it's not odd to have them, e.g. tenor voice always ...
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Bass Clef Changed to Treble Clef in the Middle of the Music Sheet (Are The Clefs Notes in Same Octave?) [duplicate]
Halo, it may be duplicate of other questions with the same titles. But I don't find answers I'm looking for in those...
I'm quite new to music sheet, but I can basically read notes already after some ...
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Are these 2 clef-change notations equivalent in meaning and result?
I've been copying over my purchased PDF of John Adams's score for "China Gates" into a new MuseScore copy for my personal use. There are frequent clef changes which he notates in this manner ...
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8va or clef change?
I've been transcribing music on and off for a few years now as a hobby and noticed while reading someone else's sheets that they have heaps of clef changes midway through the piece. It sort of blew my ...
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Why aren't octave clefs used in piano notation?
It's not uncommon to find piano music where the left hand plays primarily in octave 1, or the right hand in octave 6 (i.e. below the staff of a bass clef or above the staff of a treble clef). This ...
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The Grand Staff Revealed?
This is a long explanation (with a question at the end), but I hope it might help some struggling students.
I'm embarrassed that I always shunned reading music. I first learned music a lifetime ago by ...
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Which clef is used for the tenors here? [duplicate]
In modern typesetting, tenors usually have an F clef (or an octaving C clef, with the 8 indicated or omitted).
Consider following clef from Bellini's Norma (p. 125):
It looks like an (octaving) G ...
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Notating a note sustained over clef change
I found this very interesting notation in Wiklund's first piano concerto, final bars of movement 1 (the transcription for two pianos):
See the final left-hand bars: the low E is sustained over a clef ...
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Why is the usual clef for guitar G clef?
Analyzing by two parameters, polyphony and range, music written for guitar should use two clefs, G and F. Usually, solo guitar has a polyphonic expression. Writing two melodies in a single stave could ...
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Treble Clef with optional 8 va bassa?
What is a treble clef with 8 in parentheses used for?
My software (MuseScore 3.x) ignores it (as if it were a treble without any 8). What is the point of this clef? Is it for transposing instruments? ...
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How do I play two bass clefs sharing piano keys? [duplicate]
I have some sheet music for the song Mad World. Part way though the treble clef on the grand staff changes to bass, which is fine, but a few bars later I hit a snag.
In bar 7 both hands are given the ...
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When should tenor clef be used?
There are several instruments that have music written for them primarily in bass clef, but commonly change to tenor clef for a higher passages. In particular, I am interested in:
Bassoon
Trombone
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How to notate a phrase than goes up and down several octaves
I have several bars of sixteenth notes that span quite a large range on the keyboard, and also go up and down the length of four octaves on the keyboard quite rapidly. I am not sure about how best to ...
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Where can I find music written in baritone and mezzo-soprano clefs?
I use C clefs as tools for transposition, and while it's relatively easy to find music written in alto, tenor, and soprano clefs, I've never found a consistent source for music in baritone and mezzo-...
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How do I reasonably deal with a clef change?
I am currently trying to transpose some notes from singing to the cello.
The Cello uses the bass clef, and because it is one of the many instruments which also uses concert pitch as stated in this ...
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Bach Invention 1 BWV 772 Bar 13 same note simultaneously in both staves, play only one? [duplicate]
I'm learning Bach's Invention 1 BWV 772. Bar 13 has the same note E in both staves simultaneously. Should I only use right hand to play it?
(I saw some past questions about both staves having the same ...
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Is there a legitimate reason why a C-Clef could ever be used in piano music?
I'm working on a composition that I can't help but to use the C-Clef because it renders neater on paper. This one switched to treble clef twice. But this would be a mess with bass clef and treble clef ...
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Two different clefs at the start of a piece on the same hand
I am looking at the intro for the "Piano collections" of Nobuo Uematsu's Final Fantasy VI Terra's theme, which starts like this .
The right hand is pretty straight forward, but the first bar ...
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What are the pitches in this donso ngoni tuning? [closed]
Please see the image below depicting the donso ngoni.
I'm bad at identifying notes from clefs. But if I'm giving a try to guess the notes I think in the key of A: it is A - B - D - E - G - A. Is that ...
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What is the Schäffer Clef?
I was perusing the Musescore master palette and came across this triangle shaped clef called the Schäffer clef.
Doing a Google search for it only returned stuff like a website for browsing the ...
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What does it mean when a chord in the bass-clef bar is marked with a treble clef and what is the extent of applying that notation.This is piano music [duplicate]
There is a treble clef next to a chord in the bass-clef bar near the end of a piece of music I'm trying to learn. I don't know how to interpret it. Should I play just this one chord as if it were on ...
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Clef of the lower staff does not look right in Lilypond, how to fix?
I am trying to engrave a pipa piece using Lilypond 2.20 on Ubuntu 20.04. The first several notes render like this:
What do not look right:
Clef in the lower part does not start with a bass symbol, ...
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How can I read these cross staff notes?
I'm aware of notes crossing clefs, but I've never seen it being used like this before. For the record, the song is in 4/4.
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Where should I put the bass clef? Before or after the repeat sign?
So I'm in the middle of writing the second movement of a duo sonata for Violin and Cello.
The cello goes into the tenor register for a decent amount of time, thus me writing the tenor clef. But where ...
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What does (loco) mean?
I was reading the classical guitar article on wikipedia and saw this "(loco)" notation used to describe the playing range of guitar:
What does "(loco)" mean?
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Identifying bass notes on piano with strange clef
I'm not musician, I'm old man and I would like to hear again some specific music.
I have the sheet music and I bought a piano. I was reading this Wikipedia article and would like to identify the notes ...
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Is it common to mix multiple clefs on the same sheet?
One of my Facebook friends posted this sheet
I was shocked by the quantity of clefs being used. Moreover, they aren't placed at the same vertical position (which I assume changes the reference points ...
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Why are baritone vocals written one octave higher in the treble clef?
I have a lot of sheet music where the singer is a baritone and sings a lot in the C3 - C4 region. This would normally be written in the bass clef but in my sheet music, the notes are written in the ...
user35708
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What clef is this? (Baroque, Vivaldi)
What is this clef in Vivaldi RV281? This is the only source of the concerto is available ( at least without buying it, which is the manuscript). The piece did have a few weird clefs like an octave ...
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Why the F clef and G clef? [duplicate]
We understand that the bass clef is called the F clef, while the treble is called the G clef. It's to do with where the strange signs are on each staff. But why those notes in particular?
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Is the bass clef the same thing as a question mark? How are they related?
Why does the bass clef look like a question mark?
user70124
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Clef for the organ pedals
What type of bass clef is used for the organ pedals: regular bass clef, or 8va bassa?
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Need help reading this music sheet
Complete newbie here, i've been handed this piece of music and im not completely sure how to read it. Can someone tell me how to read this piece and what is says?
i know it looks simple but im not ...
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Unnecessary and confusing bass clef in Mozart's Fantasia in D minor, Why?
I just played Mozart's Fantasia in D minor and I noticed at the Allegretto section in D major, an unnecessary and confusing bass clef. So I looked on IMSLP to see if any of the editions of Mozart's ...
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Can the treble clef be used instead of the bass clef in piano music?
I have been learning the piano for a few months now and I am having trouble learning the bass clef. I have played other instruments that use the treble clef so I know it well. Can the bass clef be ...
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