alto clef

noun

, Music.

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

alto clef

noun

1. the clef that establishes middle C as being on the third line of the staff Also calledviola clef See also C clef

Word History and Origins

Origin of alto clef¹

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

The music on the stand in front of me is illuminated, and I fall in love with the light, the alto clef curlicuing around the cloudy patterns from Papa's pipe.

From Literature

When I started to play viola, I learned to read alto clef, which has middle C smack dab in the middle of the staff, and eventually I was the music-reading equivalent of trilingual.

From Scientific American

The viola's song is in a language no one knows; it reads from the alto clef, not the treble.

From Literature

Tenor clef, which is like alto clef but with the C one line higher, flummoxed me entirely.

From Scientific American