A full piano keyboard includes 88 keys, but the number of sounds perceived by the human ear and used in music reaches one hundred. Meanwhile, the musical staff has only 5 lines. To record all possible musical sounds, there are special signs in the musical notation - keys.
Musical keys were invented along with notes by the creator of modern notation - Guido d'Arezzo. The idea was simple: a special sign is placed at the beginning of the stave, which indicates the position of a certain sound, which becomes the reference point. All other notes are calculated relative to this “zero mark”.
Key salt
Along with music there is an older system of recording music - alphabetic. Each note corresponds to a letter of the Latin alphabet, and the outlines of musical keys are modified letters. In particular, the note salt is denoted by the Latin letter G, and it is from it that the key salt, better known as violin, came from. Its name is due to the fact that it is in this vein that notes are written for the violin, however, not only for it, but also for flute, oboe, clarinet, female voices, the right hand on the piano, button accordion and accordion.
The key curl is located on the 2nd line of the stave, indicating the position of the note in the first octave salt. In France, in the Baroque era, another type of salt key was used, which was written on the first line. He was called the French key.
Key fa
The shape of the key f comes from the Latin letter F. Its curl and two dots indicate the position of the note of the f small octave - on the 4th line of the musical staff. In this vein, notes are written for cello, bassoon and other low instruments, as well as for the bass part in the choir, which is why it is called bass.
Along with the bass clef, there are two more kinds of fa clef: baritone and bass-profund. In the first case, the small octave fa is placed on the third ruler, in the second - on the fifth.
Key to
Key d is a modified Latin letter C and indicates the position of the note to the 1st octave. There are 5 options for this key. In the soprano key, the note up to the 1st octave is on the 1st line, in the mezzo-soprano - on the 2nd, in the alto - on the 3rd, in the tenor - on the 4th, in the baritone - on the 5th.
