As a 12 and 13 year old in the school band, I had a very hard time sight reading anything and any kind of switching between clefs threw me way off. There I would be, frantically recapitulating "every good boy does fine," "all cows eat grass," etc. and scrambling to position the trombone slide. Sheer misery. So when I see the very unfamiliar clefs like the French Violin clef, it still strikes me with an irrational fear.
Thank you. You forgot to say that cellists read music in 3 clefs(treble clef too)-4 (alto clef) if you play old, old manuscripts of Boccherini and other 18th century composers. I will be sharing this video with my cello students and colleagues.🎵
Interesting choice of pieces for demonstrating the change between bass and tenor clef - Bach’s 6th cello suite was composed for a cello with a top E-string, probably a violoncello da spalla, pushing it extremely high for a cello piece of the era.
Tenor voice in "modern" music is usually indicated with a G-clef with a little "8" on the bottom to indicate that it sounds an octave deeper. Sometimes a doubled G-clef is also seen, but that is about as rare as the baritone clef.
Guido's accent is en pointe. 😂😂 This was so informative, thank you. I used to write music in sort of neumes when I was in college and didnt want to forget an idea.
Someone once told me it's G clef because it's called the Grand clef owing to it being the principal and the F clef is the Follow clef because it supplies harmonies. What utter nonsense, and I believed it for a while.
I missed the C1 clef in this video. It was the standard clef for the Soprano singing voice from the early renaissance until the mid of the 19th century and then was more and more replaced by the g clef.
Good video, but I would have liked to hear about the "Ut Queant Laxis" and the latin name of the notes like Guido did, and why the northern countries (predominantly, with the exception of Germany) stayed with the letter system. Great work, love this channel!
A really enjoyable presentation. That particuar Bach example transcribed for viola takes it into celestial ledger line zones, a limitation sitting between clefs perhaps!
@@jiafeiskinnyproducts What I meant was that parts of the transcriptions I play pile on the ledger lines for the alto clef. This was in response to your comment that clefs were devised to avoid it. The general belief these days is that the 6th cello suite was composed for an intermediate instrument sort of between a cello and the viola. I haven't seen a facsimile score so don't know which clef that was written in by Ana Magdalena. Sometimes we use bass clef for impromptu transcriptions but indeed I have never used the tenor!
You’ve missed the mezzo-soprano clef. I have thought of a prospective tribe of wind instruments which overblow non-integer intervals. My plan for the families (obviously there are going to be clarinet forms of them because ”Violin” is the reed stop of the pipe organ that inspired the names of the bottom 21 voices and it works like a clarinet) is that it is going to go in steps with this series with the secondary series, whole and partial tube “altissimo“, being in minor keys (the standard version of this series being a reed instrument in Am, Bm, Cm, Dm, Em, F#m or Gm) and the tertiary being a fourth or fifth higher (in spite of this, they will default to being chromatic): **Piccolissimo in A~Garklein in G **Piccolino in F and Eb **Piccolo in D~Violincellissimo in C *octave 5* **Violin-cellino, -issimo in Bb and A **Violin(c)ello in G and F Sopranissimo in Eb~Violino in D Sopranino in C4~Violissima in Bb3 Soprano in A~Mezzo-Violissima in G Mezzo-Soprano in F~Violetta in Eb Alto in D~Viola in C *octave 3* Tenor in Bb~Violoncellissimo in A Baritone in G~Violoncellino in F Basset in Eb~Violoncello in D Bass in C2~Violone in Bb1 *Great Bass(et) in A and F and Contrabasset in D~Violonissimo in G, Eb and C *octave 1* *Contrabass in Bb and Great Contrabass(et) in G and Eb~Contraviolonissimo in A, F and D *Subcontrabass(et) in C0 and A-1~Subcontraviolonissimo in Bb-1 and G-1 As you can see, the voices of this plan mirror clefs from a theoretical super-thirteenth French (violin) clef all the way down to a theoretical sub-eighteenth subbass clef.
+OrchestraEnlighten *The C clef, which would be ideal for contralto and tenor parts, has, sadly, fallen out of use for vocal music.* The French-violin staff would be ideal for a sopranino, the subbass staff for the contrabasso; but neither sees much use in vocal scores nowadays.
I tell my percussion students all the time to basically ignore the clef entirely because non pitched percussion music is routinely written in every clef except moveable C tenor or alto type clefs. There’s no rationale or pattern. Composers just pick a clef out of a hat.
You may have already covered this in another video, but I was wondering when different pitches were described by letters A through G. Apparently that was some time before Guido.
How anyone sightreads for stringed instruments is beyond me! It's all very well telling me to play middle c, but which of the 5 do i play on my guitar?! Hybrid tablature is the only way I can sightread for any fretted instrument.
I loved how Guido's voice actor had a thick Italian accent! Gives the performance a weird and nice touch of realism, somehow. Great vid overall!
It's amazing how something given little thought about today can have such a rich history.
As a 12 and 13 year old in the school band, I had a very hard time sight reading anything and any kind of switching between clefs threw me way off. There I would be, frantically recapitulating "every good boy does fine," "all cows eat grass," etc. and scrambling to position the trombone slide. Sheer misery. So when I see the very unfamiliar clefs like the French Violin clef, it still strikes me with an irrational fear.
Cue alto clef 😂
Thank you. You forgot to say that cellists read music in 3 clefs(treble clef too)-4 (alto clef) if you play old, old manuscripts of Boccherini and other 18th century composers. I will be sharing this video with my cello students and colleagues.🎵
Same for trombones! Bass is most common, then tenor clef, then either alto or Bb transposed treble (alto for classical, Bb treble for brass band)
Interesting choice of pieces for demonstrating the change between bass and tenor clef - Bach’s 6th cello suite was composed for a cello with a top E-string, probably a violoncello da spalla, pushing it extremely high for a cello piece of the era.
Tenor voice in "modern" music is usually indicated with a G-clef with a little "8" on the bottom to indicate that it sounds an octave deeper. Sometimes a doubled G-clef is also seen, but that is about as rare as the baritone clef.
Which btw is the one that guitar music uses as standard, except the little 8 is rarely notated under the G clef.
Not only in “modern” music, but most tenor lined in satb stuff
Very interesting! Guido's voice actor could use a pop filter, though.
Sadly, no pop filters in the first century
@@oae Wasn't he around in the 10th or 11th century? I mean, they had invented panty hose and wire by then. ;)
very cool. Thanks for your channel being so educationally oriented.
Guido's accent is en pointe. 😂😂 This was so informative, thank you. I used to write music in sort of neumes when I was in college and didnt want to forget an idea.
Would love to have seen the various vocal clefs: soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor 8ba clefs, but I know this is an orchestra site
15ma and the 8's below and above the clefs is about all that could be added. Ty again for a great video
Someone once told me it's G clef because it's called the Grand clef owing to it being the principal and the F clef is the Follow clef because it supplies harmonies. What utter nonsense, and I believed it for a while.
Hahah the logic is understandable and may work to a point but yeah it's false
And funnily enough, the G clef wasn't much used in the past, the C clef was much more common. Soprano singers used to read C clef instead of G clef!
I missed the C1 clef in this video. It was the standard clef for the Soprano singing voice from the early renaissance until the mid of the 19th century and then was more and more replaced by the g clef.
8:15 I wish the composers would do the same for flute to make the music more neat lol
Good video, but I would have liked to hear about the "Ut Queant Laxis" and the latin name of the notes like Guido did, and why the northern countries (predominantly, with the exception of Germany) stayed with the letter system. Great work, love this channel!
A really enjoyable presentation. That particuar Bach example transcribed for viola takes it into celestial ledger line zones, a limitation sitting between clefs perhaps!
I believe it is still played by a cello? Violas don't really use bass or tenor clefs
@@jiafeiskinnyproducts What I meant was that parts of the transcriptions I play pile on the ledger lines for the alto clef. This was in response to your comment that clefs were devised to avoid it. The general belief these days is that the 6th cello suite was composed for an intermediate instrument sort of between a cello and the viola. I haven't seen a facsimile score so don't know which clef that was written in by Ana Magdalena. Sometimes we use bass clef for impromptu transcriptions but indeed I have never used the tenor!
You’ve missed the mezzo-soprano clef.
I have thought of a prospective tribe of wind instruments which overblow non-integer intervals. My plan for the families (obviously there are going to be clarinet forms of them because ”Violin” is the reed stop of the pipe organ that inspired the names of the bottom 21 voices and it works like a clarinet) is that it is going to go in steps with this series with the secondary series, whole and partial tube “altissimo“, being in minor keys (the standard version of this series being a reed instrument in Am, Bm, Cm, Dm, Em, F#m or Gm) and the tertiary being a fourth or fifth higher (in spite of this, they will default to being chromatic):
**Piccolissimo in A~Garklein in G
**Piccolino in F and Eb
**Piccolo in D~Violincellissimo in C
*octave 5*
**Violin-cellino, -issimo in Bb and A
**Violin(c)ello in G and F
Sopranissimo in Eb~Violino in D
Sopranino in C4~Violissima in Bb3
Soprano in A~Mezzo-Violissima in G
Mezzo-Soprano in F~Violetta in Eb
Alto in D~Viola in C
*octave 3*
Tenor in Bb~Violoncellissimo in A
Baritone in G~Violoncellino in F
Basset in Eb~Violoncello in D
Bass in C2~Violone in Bb1
*Great Bass(et) in A and F and Contrabasset in D~Violonissimo in G, Eb and C
*octave 1*
*Contrabass in Bb and Great Contrabass(et) in G and Eb~Contraviolonissimo in A, F and D
*Subcontrabass(et) in C0 and A-1~Subcontraviolonissimo in Bb-1 and G-1
As you can see, the voices of this plan mirror clefs from a theoretical super-thirteenth French (violin) clef all the way down to a theoretical sub-eighteenth subbass clef.
What do you mean ”Violin is the reed stop of the pipe organ"?
Great video
My habit of blaming longstanding musical conventions on Guido of Arezzo remains unchallenged.
Most informative, thank you.
Really interesting! Thank you so much!
Thank you for the wonderful information....God Bless :)
+OrchestraEnlighten *The C clef, which would be ideal for contralto and tenor parts, has, sadly, fallen out of use for vocal music.* The French-violin staff would be ideal for a sopranino, the subbass staff for the contrabasso; but neither sees much use in vocal scores nowadays.
Me in my undergraduate studies: "fine, I understand why now....but I still want everything in concert pitch" lol :)
I tell my percussion students all the time to basically ignore the clef entirely because non pitched percussion music is routinely written in every clef except moveable C tenor or alto type clefs. There’s no rationale or pattern. Composers just pick a clef out of a hat.
You may have already covered this in another video, but I was wondering when different pitches were described by letters A through G. Apparently that was some time before Guido.
But now, we live in a world with Orchestra of the Age of Enlightement videos After Guido (AG)
Guido actually started that too. Look up "The Guidonian Hand" on Wikipedia to get started.
So what did the A, B, D, and E clefs look like?
@UCWv9c9j14_ibs_S1_8SKGdA Do you recall what book that was?
Bach’s Cello Suite used alto and soprano clef in the upper register originally, at least according to the copied Manuscript.
Could it be that G was chosen because it’s the fifth scale degree (since F and C were chosen based on their positions in the C major scale)?
You can always use the treble G clef for the high register in viola
The G clef (and all the others9 is much older than the major scale.
How anyone sightreads for stringed instruments is beyond me! It's all very well telling me to play middle c, but which of the 5 do i play on my guitar?! Hybrid tablature is the only way I can sightread for any fretted instrument.
why is it shaped that way looks like 6 and 9 and 5 ?
This was fascinating. I'd known about the Alto and Tenor clefs, but not the others. Thank you so much!
Which clef is used to signify the human voice?
All/any of them, depending on who is singing!
@@Qermaq Good point.
Guido has terrible microphone technique. Not a surprise, really.
It's funny that Cello needs tenor cliff to cut ledger lines, but flutes are just fine with a ton of them
That’s because flutes spend a lot of time in that register, cellist do not.
🐻👍👍👍💥💥💥
You played examples of music in different clefs but can a LISTENER really know which clef it was being played in?
Not really, no! Clefs are really there for the benefit of the performer to be able to read the pitches of the notes easily.
I know, they should have included examples of notation in each case.
The French violin clef & bass clef are pretty much the same.
Well, two octaves apart.
@@user-74652 Notes on the same lines. If you can read bass clef, you have no problem with french violin clef.
Funny how they made Guido speaking in an Italian accent. That was brilliant!
When you still watch clef videos after writing 3 symphonies 😂
3:24
Oh. the inappropriate stereotype of a native italian speaker speaking english… naughty
Did they just make Guido d'Arezzo speak Staten Island English few centuries before Italian and Modern English came to be?
Maybe get someone who's better at public speaking.
Maybe you should specify why exactly it is that you think their speaker should be replaced instead of just giving no indication as to why?