Using All Clefs
Last week I wrote about my preference for solfege as a sight-reading tool because of its singability. I also believe that learning to read all clefs is an important skill and worth the effort and practice it requires.
Originally in the early establishment of tonal harmony in the late 17th to 18th century, the clefs moved around to accommodate vocal and instrument ranges. The clef was the "key" or central note from which pitches would rise above or fall below. This clef would change depending upon the tune and the needs of the melodic contour. With the work of J.S.Bach and the "Well Tempered Klavier," equal temperament became a new standard of keyboard music and this forced the other instruments to change their tuning in order to play together with a keyboard instrument. With the advent of equal temperament, the pattern of the repeated scale from the lowest note to the highest of the seven solfege syllables repeating over and over also became the standard for notation. There became the fixed 5 lines creating 4 spaces, and the grand staff combining the bass and treble clef in one continuous representation of the pitches in tonal music developed soon in Bach's time.
For pianists, we need to learn both the treble and bass clef (see: grand staff). Our Variation A starts on the higher do for the right hand and the lower do for the left hand so that the body is positioned centrally in front of "middle do" (see: grand staff for piano). Our highest instrument is the violin, and its open strings fall within a writable range on the treble clef (see: grand staff for violin). The cello and double bass use the bass clef as their open strings are in the lower range (see: grand staff for cello). The viola is the middle string instrument and so it use the "Do Clef" also known as a C Clef directly in the center of the grand staff (see: grand staff for viola). This is convenient as it uses the top two lines of the bass clef, a middle line to represent "middle do" and the bottom two lines of the treble clef. Thus, pianists can be trained to read the viola's alto clef without much extra effort, by imagining the middle line is the same as the small ledger line used for "middle do" and reading the other notes as if they were on treble and bass clefs.
So often, in chamber music we do not have the prescribed instruments to play the pieces we want. Thus a violinist could often play much of the viola part if fluent in alto clef. A violist can substitute for a cellist if able to read bass clef, and a singer in a choir could read another part (an alto singing the tenor part, or a tenor singing the alto part) if again, able to read the additional clef. Another benefit is that a pianist can fill in for a clarinet part (normally an instrument that has a note that sounds a Major second below the written pitch) if that pianist has a keyboard with a "clarinet" button and the pianist can read tenor clef.
As we continue to use solfege in our musicianship program, the pitches we start with are those that fall in the most obvious singable range of children (see: grand staff for musicianship). Taking the time to look at the full grand staff, understanding what pitches we can truly sing, and understanding what are the pitches we can play on our instruments may help better note recognition and lead to developing more quickly the ability to hear the music on the written page using our inner ear and produce better intonation and practical skill at sight-reading.
Sachiko Isihara
Executive Director