Notation & reading
Tenor clef
Tenor clef is a C clef placing middle C on the fourth line of the staff, used for the higher register of cello, bassoon, and trombone parts.
Cello music sits in bass clef for most of its range, but the upper register would need four or five ledger lines above the staff. Tenor clef moves the reading frame up so those passages fall back onto the staff, and cellists switch between the two clefs mid-piece, sometimes mid-phrase.
The line notes are D, F, A, C, E and the spaces E, G, B, D. Double bassists meet it too, in the higher solo repertoire and in some orchestral parts, though bass clef with ledger lines is more common there.
Related terms
Every term in this glossary is taught in context somewhere in Arco's curricula, on the staff, on the keyboard, and on your own fingerboard at the same time.