You're in Treble Now! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Key

The word 'clef' originates in the French language, but the French got it from the Latin term 'clovis', which also means key. 'Clef' was used in Old French (9th to 14th centuries), through the years of Middle French (14th to early 17th centuries), and into the modern era, although today the more common term for a physical key is 'clé'.

Thus it is as a key that a clef, whether it be a treble, alto, tenor, or bass clef, is used. It is a key to determine what note lies on a specific line, which is the key to figuring out the rest of the staff.

Answer: The G-clef

The treble clef is called the G-clef because it is used as a key to tell the musician where the G can be found on the staff. The treble clef is actually a big, stylized letter G, placed on the staff in such a way that the second line (from the bottom) is highlighted. With the fat swirl extending from the bottom line to the middle line, then split with the vertical stroke of the clef, that second line looks like the cross-hairs of a rifle scope.

Thus, the treble clef points the way to the line where the G is on the staff, and names the note all at the same time. The bass clef works in the same way; a stylized letter F marking the F-line (fourth line counting from the bottom).

Answer: Fudge

In all reality, you can make up any phrase you want that will help you remember the sequence of notes on the lines of the staffs (bottom to top: E G B D F). Here are a few other examples:

Every Good Boy Does Fine
Every Good Band Draws Fans
Eating Green Bananas Disgusts Friends
Ernie Gives Bert Dead Flies
Even Gershwin Began (as a) Dummy First
Every Good Behind Deserves Framing

You get the idea.

Answer: FACE

Of course, the musical alphabet only goes up to the letter G, so the only possible answer in this case was FACE. It is also possible to use a four word phrase like what is used for the lines, but traditionally, the word FACE is used for its simplicity.

And, when you put the lines and the spaces together, you get all the notes of the treble clef staff:

E G B D F
F A C E

Answer: C Major

If you looked at the treble clef to determine your position on the staff, it was an easy reverse alphabetical count to determine your starting note and the name of your scale. With the second line of the staff being G, going backwards two lines and two spaces brought you down F E D C.

Or maybe you remembered the "Ernie Gives Bert Dead Flies" phrase and only had to count back two notes. Either way, the answer is C Major.

The natural half steps built into the 12 tones of music are found between B and C, and E and F. Those are the spots on a piano where there are no black keys separating the white ones.

P.S. - that line that the lowest note of the scale is written on is called a ledger line. You can add as many as needed above or below the staff to extend the range of the music.

Answer: No

To play piano, one typically needs a Grand Staff (treble clef on top, bass clef below). When used, the Grand Staff has room for one ledger line between the two staves. That ledger line is the home of 'Middle C'. Thus, it lies both below the treble clef staff on the first ledger line, or above the bass clef staff on the first ledger line, whichever way you choose to look at it.

Answer: Violin

Of these four, only the violin uses music written completely in the treble clef. As the highest pitched member of the violin family, this makes perfect sense. Each of the others sometimes will have parts (when playing in their highest registers) written out in the treble clef, but typically they use other clefs.

The viola is primarily written in the alto clef, the cello mostly uses the bass clef (and to a lesser degree the tenor clef), while the double bass also uses the bass clef.

Answer: They ALL use the treble clef - what are you talking about?

The saxophone was named for its inventor, Adolphe Sax (1814 - 1894). While each instrument in the family has a different sounding range (and pitched in different keys), they all have the same written range (on a treble clef staff). With each instrument having the same fingering system, it is possible to switch from instrument to instrument and already know how to play the notes and read the music.

The highest of the saxophones, the Bb sopranissimo, sounds a minor seventh higher than written, while the Bb subcontrabass saxophone sounds three octaves and a Major second lower than written.

Answer: False

Timpani actually use music written on the bass clef staff. In the modern orchestra or wind ensemble, there are typically between two and five timpani, with a combined range of two octaves extending from the C below the bass clef staff (2nd ledger line) to the C above the staff (1st ledger line).

Answer: All three of them do

Like the saxophone family, trumpets are transposing instruments that use music notated on the treble clef. Trumpets, however, have a much longer and varied history than the saxophone. Rather than one inventor, the trumpet was developed by many people over the centuries, slowly changing it from a simple straight horn to the modern valve trumpets of today.

The same thing happened to music notation over the centuries, and even after our modern Western music notation system was developed, it took some time to standardize things for the modern era. At one time, some composers wrote music for the bass trumpet in bass clef, while others were writing in treble. Today, all trumpet music is notated on the treble clef staff.