In Western musical notation, pitches are designated by the first seven letters of the Latin alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. After G these letter names repeat in a loop: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, etc. This loop of letter names exists because musicians and music theorists today accept what is called octave equivalence, or the assumption that pitches separated by an octave should have the same letter name. More information about this concept can be found in the next chapter, The Keyboard and the Grand Staff.

Clefs and Ranges

The Notation of Notes, Clefs, and Ledger Lines chapter introduced four clefs: treble, bass, alto, and tenor. A clef indicates which pitches are assigned to the lines and spaces on a staff. In the next chapter, The Keyboard and the Grand Staff, we will see that having multiple clefs makes reading different ranges easier. The treble clef is typically used for higher voices and instruments, such as a flute, violin, trumpet, or soprano voice. The bass clef is usually utilized for lower voices and instruments, such as a bassoon, cello, trombone, or bass voice. The alto clef is primarily used for the viola, a mid-ranged instrument, while the tenor clef is sometimes employed in cello, bassoon, and trombone music (although the principal clef used for these instruments is the bass clef).

Each clef indicates how the lines and spaces of the staff correspond to pitch. Memorizing the patterns for each clef will help you read music written for different voices and instruments.

Reading Treble Clef

The treble clef is one of the most commonly used clefs today. Example 1 shows the letter names used for the lines of a staff when a treble clef is employed. One mnemonic device that may help you remember this order of letter names is “Every Good Bird Does Fly” (E, G, B, D, F). As seen in Example 1, the treble clef wraps around the G line (the second line from the bottom). For this reason, it is sometimes called the “G clef.”

Example 2 shows the letter names used for the spaces of a staff with a treble clef. Remembering that these letter names spell the word “face” may make identifying these spaces easier.

Example 3 shows an octave treble clef. Notice the small “8” at the bottom of the clef:

An octave treble clef with an “8” at the bottom of the clef indicates that notes should be sung or played an octave lower than written. Music for tenor vocalists, guitarists, and bassists often uses the octave treble clef. A double treble clef also indicates that notes should be sung or played an octave lower than written, but it is much less common. Example 4 shows a double treble clef:

Sometimes music for piccolo or flute will use an octave treble clef with an “8” at the top of the clef. This indicates that notes should be played an octave higher than written. Example 5 shows this clef:

However, piccolo music is always assumed to sound an octave higher than written, regardless of which clef is used–a regular treble clef or an octave treble clef.

Reading Bass Clef

The other most commonly used clef today is the bass clef. Example 6 shows the letter names used for the lines of a staff when a bass clef is employed. A mnemonic device for this order of letter names is “Good Bikes Don’t Fall Apart” (G, B, D, F, A). The bass clef is sometimes called the “F clef”; as seen in Example 6, the dot of the bass clef begins on the F line (the second line from the top).

Example 7 shows the letter names used for the spaces of a staff with a bass clef. The mnemonic device “All Cows Eat Grass” (A, C, E, G) may make identifying these spaces easier.

Reading Alto Clef

Example 8 shows the letter names used for the lines of the staff with the alto clef, which is less commonly used today. The mnemonic device “Fat Alley Cats Eat Garbage” (F, A, C, E, G) may help you remember this order of letter names. As seen in Example 8, the center of the alto clef is indented around the C line (the middle line). For this reason it is sometimes called a “C clef.”

Example 9 shows the letter names used for the spaces of a staff with an alto clef, which can be remembered with the mnemonic device “Grand Boats Drift Flamboyantly” (G, B, D, F).

Reading Tenor Clef

The tenor clef, another less commonly used clef, is also sometimes called a “C clef,” but the center of the clef is indented around the second line from the top. Example 10 shows the letter names used for the lines of a staff when a tenor clef is employed, which can be remembered with the mnemonic device “Dodges, Fords, and Chevrolets Everywhere” (D, F, A, C, E):

Example 11 shows the letter names used for the spaces of a staff with a tenor clef. The mnemonic device “Elvis’s Guitar Broke Down” (E, G, B, D) may make identifying these spaces easier.

You can practice identifying clefs in the following exercise:

Ledger Lines

When notes are too high or low to be written on a staff, small lines are drawn to extend the staff. These extra lines are called ledger lines. Ledger lines can be used to extend a staff with any clef. Example 13 shows ledger lines above a staff with a treble clef:

Notice that each space and line above the staff gets a letter name with ledger lines, as if the staff were simply continuing upwards. The same is true for ledger lines below a staff, as shown in Example 14:

Notice that each space and line below the staff gets a letter name with ledger lines, as if the staff were simply continuing downwards.

Unpitched (Neutral) Clef

A neutral clef is sometimes called an “unpitched clef” or “percussion clef” because it is often used for percussion instruments with indefinite pitch. Example 15 shows a neutral clef on a staff:

In an unpitched clef, the lines and spaces of the staff do not represent letter names, but instead may represent different instruments. Neutral clefs are sometimes used on a single-line staff, as seen in Example 16: