Alto Clef And Tenor Clef

When the C-clef is placed on the third line of the stave, it is called the alto clef. As with all C-clefs, this line indicates the position of middle C. This clef (sometimes called the viola clef) is currently used for the viola, the viola da gamba, the alto trombone, and the mandola. It is also associated with the countertenor voice and therefore called the counter-tenor (or countertenor) clef, and is used also for the alto voice and for instruments playing a middle part (such as oboes and recorders). A vestige of this survives in Sergei Prokofiev's use of the clef for the English horn, as in his symphonies. It occasionally turns up in keyboard music to the present day (Brahms's Organ chorales, John Cage's Dream for piano).

TENOR CLEF

When the C-clef is placed on the fourth line of the stave, it is called the tenor clef. This clef is used for the upper ranges of the bassoon, cello, euphonium, double bass, and trombone (all of which can be notated in bass clef as well, which is the current practice in most modern manuscripts, and when notating parts in the extreme upper range of these instruments, the treble clef can be used as well). The tenor violin parts were also written in this clef (see e.g. Giovanni Battista Vitali's Op. 11). Formerly, 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 when written alone or the bass clef when combined on one stave with the bass part. The double bass sounds an octave lower than the written pitch.