That little sign at the beginning of your music is most likely some sort of clef sign. Which one is it? Well, we have two clef signs that are mainly in use today. They are the treble clef and the bass clef. Their job is to indicate the names of the notes on the music staff. I am guessing that what you are seeing is probably one of those.
Let's find out more about each of the clef signs...
1. Treble Clef - Another name for this clef is the G-Clef. The "belly" of the spiral-shaped symbol wraps around the second line of the staff. Notes placed on this line are called G.
Higher pitched voices or instruments read the G-Clef. These instruments include the flute, clarinet, saxophone, violin, oboe, trumpet and the right hand of piano music.
This clef sign is also used for the piano representing middle C on up to the highest note, which is also called C.
2. Bass Clef - F-Clef is another name for this clef. The two dots found in the symbol surround the fourth line of the staff. Any note placed on this line is called F.
As you may have realized, the word "bass" represents the low sounds in music. That is the type of voices or instruments that read this clef. Some of the instruments reading F-Clef include the double bass, trombone, bassoon, cello, tuba, baritone and the left hand part on the piano.
When you play the piano, you will find this clef used for middle C on down to any note below, including the lowest note A.
As you can see, the piano is the only instrument that reads both clefs. This is something to take into consideration if piano is something you would like to learn how to play.
Using both of these clefs helps us play music using a variety of sounds at different pitch levels. The music would be pretty boring to listen to if it only used high sounds or only low sounds. With the full usage of these clef signs, we now have more musical sounds to choose from.
You can find other clef signs around today, however the treble clef and bass clef are what is used the most. If you can remember the alternate names, F-Clef and G-Clef, then you can start to identify some of the notes on the staff as well. After learning more about these two clef signs, you can now see how music incorporates such a wide variety of sounds.
Teresa Rose is a music educator that is passionate about helping people learn music and especially, how to learn to read music. Visit her website to read more about the treble clef and bass clef. Don't forget to sign up for her free Learning About Music eCourse while you're there.
No comments:
Post a Comment