Treble - Definition and Overview

Treble is a term applied in music to the high or acute part of the musical system, as opposed to the bass, the lower or grave part. The note middle C is the practical division between the parts. In music notation the treble clef is used to represent the treble range.

The instrumental part may be played by violins, oboes, clarinets, or other instruments of acute tone. The word is used of people, especially in the Anglican and English Catholic traditions, to refer to a boy who sings as a soprano, in contrast to the term boy soprano used elsewhere.

The origin of the application of the term treble, a doublet of "triple" or "threefold" (from Latin triplus, "triple"; cf. "double" from duplus), to the highest voice or part comes from early plainsong. The chief melody was given to the tenor, the second part to the alto (discantus, or contralto), and where a third part (triplum) was added, it was assigned to the highest voice, the soprano or treble.

See also

• singer
• castrato
• musical instrument