The treble clef is known even to people who are far from musical art. This sign is placed at the beginning of the staff, as if opening it, which is why it is called the clef.
In modern musical notation, a staff of five lines is used. Notes are located both on the rulers and between them.
In this way, only eleven notes can be placed on the stave, no more. It's less than two octaves, and musicians use a lot more. How do you write down all the other notes? True, additional rulers above and below are also used, but if there are more than four of them, it becomes very difficult for the musician to navigate. This is where special signs come to the rescue - keys.
Key value in musical notation
A musician, looking at the staff, knows exactly where which note is. This becomes possible because it has a point of reference: between the second and third rulers is the A of the first octave. Therefore, one step higher - on the third ruler - will be the note B of the same octave, and on the second - G, etc.
But any frame of reference is very conditional. If you change the origin, the entire system will change. So, without resorting to a large number of additional rulers, you can find yourself in any octave.
That is why the Italian music theorist Guido d'Arezzo, who laid the foundations of modern notation, invented special signs - keys. Their purpose is to indicate the point of reference on the stave, the note relative to which all the others are determined.
Writing the treble clef
The shape of the keys is modified Latin letters. In addition to the syllabic system (do, re, mi, etc.), there is also an older system of notation for notes - alphabetic. In this system, the note G of the first octave is denoted by the Latin letter G. It is its position on the stave that indicates the treble clef, its curl covers the second ruler. Therefore, it is also called the "key of salt", and its shape is a modified letter G.
Using the treble clef, you can easily record notes in the range from low octave G to E fourth. It is in this range that violinists play, which is why the clef is called the violin clef.
But once there was also another treble clef, for a higher tessitation. It was written on the first ruler, placing the salt of the first octave there. Such a key was used in France in the 17th century, therefore it is called Old French.
Sometimes a small figure eight is added to the top or bottom of the treble clef. This means that all notes must be played respectively lower or higher by an octave.
In addition to the treble clef, there are others: the F clef (bass, baritone and bass-profund) and the C clef (alto, tenor and mezzo-soprano).
