Editing Clef (section)

===C-clefs===

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===={{anchor|alto_clef}} Alto clef====
<!-- Linked from redirect [[Viola clef]] -->
[[File:Alto clef with ref.svg|left|90px|Alto clef]]
[[File:C scale alto clef.png|thumb|C major scale, alto clef. {{audio|Diatonic scale on C.ogg|Play}}]]

A C-clef on the third line of the staff is called the alto or viola clef. It is currently used for [[viola]], [[viola d'amore]], [[alto trombone]], [[viola da gamba]], and [[mandola]]. It is also associated with the [[countertenor]] voice and sometimes called the countertenor clef.<ref>Moore 1876, 176; Dolmetsch Organisation 2011.</ref> A vestige of this survives in [[Sergei Prokofiev]]'s use of the clef for the [[cor anglais]] in his symphonies. It occasionally appears in keyboard music (for example, in [[Brahms]]'s [[Eleven Chorale Preludes|Organ Chorales]] and [[John Cage]]'s ''Dream'' for [[piano]]). It was originally used for [[alto]] parts in choral music to reduce the number of [[ledger line]]s needed, since much of the alto range is between treble and bass clef. Alto parts are now commonly written in treble clef instead.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ben |date=2020-01-30 |title=Alto Clef |url=https://www.musictheoryacademy.com/how-to-read-sheet-music/alto-clef/ |access-date=2024-03-22 |website=Music Theory Academy |language=en-US}}</ref>
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===={{anchor|tenor_clef}} Tenor clef====
[[File:Tenor clef with ref.svg|left|90px|Tenor clef]]
[[File:C scale tenor clef.png|thumb|C major scale, tenor clef. {{audio|Diatonic scale on C bass clef.ogg|Play}}]]

A C-clef on the fourth line of the staff is called tenor clef. It is used for the [[viola da gamba]] (rarely, and mostly in German scores; otherwise the alto clef is used) and for upper ranges of bass-clef instruments such as the bassoon, cello, euphonium, double bass, and [[tenor trombone]]. Treble clef may also be used for the upper extremes of these bass-clef instruments. [[Tenor violin]] parts were also written in this clef (see e.g. [[Giovanni Battista Vitali]]'s Op.&nbsp;11). It was used by the tenor part in [[vocal music]] but its use has been largely supplanted either with an octave version of the treble clef or with bass clef when tenor and bass parts are written on a single staff.

[[File:Far Above Cayuga's Waters 1906.png|thumb|right|Male chorus arrangement showing use of ladder-shaped C-clef.]]

Another tenor clef variant, formerly used in music for [[TTBB|male chorus]],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Blood |first1=Brian |title=Other Clefs |url=https://www.dolmetsch.com/musictheory14.htm |website=Dolmetsch Online |access-date=May 9, 2023}}</ref> has a ladder-like shape. This C-clef places the C on the third space of the staff, and is equivalent to the [[#Octave clefs|sub-octave treble clef]]. See also [[#History|History]].
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===={{anchor|mezzo-soprano_clef}}Mezzo-soprano clef<sup>†</sup>====
[[File:Mezzo-soprano clef with ref.svg|left|90px|Mezzo-soprano clef]]
[[File:C scale mezzo soprano clef.png|thumb|C major scale, mezzo-soprano clef. {{audio|Diatonic scale on C.ogg|Play}}]]

A C-clef on the second line of the staff is called the mezzo-soprano clef, rarely used in modern Western classical music. It was used in 17th century French orchestral music for the second viola or first tenor part ('taille') by such composers as Lully, and for mezzo-soprano voices in operatic roles, notably by [[Claudio Monteverdi]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Curtis|first=Alan|date=1989-04-01|title=La Poppea Impasticciata or, Who Wrote the Music to La Poppea Impasticciata (1643)?|journal=[[Journal of the American Musicological Society]]|volume=42|issue=1|pages=23–54|doi=10.2307/831417|issn=0003-0139|jstor=831417}}</ref> Mezzo-soprano clef was also used for certain flute parts during renaissance, especially when doubling vocal lines.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Thomas |first=Bernard |date=1975 |title=The Renaissance Flute |journal=[[Early Music (journal)|Early Music]]|volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=2–10 |jstor=3125300 |doi=10.1093/earlyj/3.1.2 }}</ref> In [[Music of Azerbaijan|Azerbaijani music]], the [[Tar (Azerbaijani instrument)|tar]] uses this clef.{{Citation needed|date=August 2020}}

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===={{anchor|soprano_clef}}Soprano clef<sup>†</sup>====
[[File:Soprano Clef - trimmed.png|left|90px|Soprano clef]]
[[File:C scale soprano clef.png|thumb|C major scale, soprano clef. {{audio|Diatonic scale on C.ogg|Play}}]]

A C-clef on the first line of the staff is called the soprano clef. It was used for the right hand of keyboard music (particularly in France – see [[Bauyn manuscript]]), in vocal music for sopranos, and sometimes for high [[Viol|viola da gamba]] parts along with the alto clef. It was used for the second violin part ('haute-contre') in 17th century French music.

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[[File:C-clefs.png|600px|thumb|center|The same line on the staff in different clefs means different pitches.<br>The line indicating C (going from the center of a clef) is marked in orange. <br> The clefs as numbered in the diagram are: <br> {{olist |Soprano clef |Mezzo-soprano clef |Alto clef |Tenor clef |Baritone clef}}]]