alto clef

alto clef

The C clef positioned to indicate that the third line from the bottom of a staff represents the pitch of middle C.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

alto clef

(Music, other) the clef that establishes middle C as being on the third line of the staff. Also called: viola clef See also C clef

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

al′to clef`

a sign locating middle C on the third line of the staff.

[1875–80]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

alto clef - a clef that puts middle C on the third line of a staff

viola clef

clef - a musical notation written on a staff indicating the pitch of the notes following it

Translations

alto clef

n → Altschlüssel m, → C-Schlüssel m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

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References in periodicals archive

The final ritornello, and the final song, is scored for the first viola (but can also be played by the violin) and written in the alto clef. In the violin part, the ritornellos are marked with Roman numerals and the titles of songs, whose modern transcription is as follows:

"My beauty enraptured God"

The exercises would be challenging and useful with some explanations from the teacher, particularly regarding the treble clef and where the alto clef flows into it.

Complete Technique for Viola, Book 1 (400 Exercises include 45 Musical Studies in Positions 1 through 5)

A single voice part in alto clef, it possesses a bouncy tunefulness more characteristic of Latin music from Italy.

Fifteenth-century settings of the Gloria and Credo

For example, the written notes for horn in D would sound correct in concert pitch if read in alto clef. The final measure of the top line indicates the clef and key signature in which the horn player should read the original in order for it to sound correctly in concert pitch when played on the valve horn in F.

Antonio Tosoroni's metodo per il corno a tre pistoni: Valve horn technique in nineteenth-century Italy

he told me that Merk had played very well but that he had expressed the wish that it could be played much more easily, and with the same effect for the cello, if the alto clef were put in the violin or tenor clef, as this frequently causes confusion and makes it much more difficult for the cellist than for the other three instruments./ He has asked Mayseder for his part and will himself make a new part, and then show it to you, so that it is not so difficult and will lose nothing of the effect throughout.(41)

Beethoven's string quartet in E flat op. 127: a study of the first performances

A falsettist is, however, obviously required for the parts written from 1692 onwards for John Howell--notated by Purcell not in the alto clef but in the mezzo-soprano, and going freely up to top e [ditto].

Purcell: Complete Odes and Welcome Songs, vols. 3-8

Written in 1948, Dream builds on short three- to six-note motifs presented on a single staff and in alto clef. Length is comparable.

This & that