The clef signs are basic to reading music because they indicate the exact location on the five lines and four spaces of a particular note. Their practical use, however, has been obscured because the treble (high) sign has become an icon for the idea of music and the bass (low) clef sign is generally ignored as long as possible.
Pianists are fortunate that they have only two clef signs to observe. Cellists deal with three: A treble or G clef fixing the location of the G above middle C, a bass or F clef fixing the location of the F below middle C, and a third clef sign resembling a Gothic B which fixes middle C on the fourth line from the bottom (see cello score).
If you read music mostly by intervals (the distance between the notes), you will not fall into the trap of thinking bass clef is "left hand", a dangerous foreign territory. After all, we only have A-B-C-D-E-F-G, and then we start over. The notes are written on the lines and spaces. From any line to the nearest space up or down is a neighbor note or a second. If you know where one note is located on the music staff (the lines and spaces), it is not difficult to find the others.
Vocabulary
Clef sign: A symbol in written music showing the fixed location of a particular note.
Treble clef: Also called G clef, used for notes from about middle C and higher. The scroll of the sign curls around the line which indicates the G above middle C.
Bass clef: Also called F clef, used for notes from about middle C and lower. The two dots beside the symbol are on either side of the line which indicates the F below middle C.
Staff: The lines and spaces used in music notation.
Illustration from A Workbook for Organic Piano Playing copyright 1977 Michaele Benedict
