Treble

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 word is also used as equivalent to the soprano voice, the highest pitch or range of the human voice, but is generally confined to a boy's voice of this quality, "soprano" being used for the corresponding female voice.

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