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what is the thing called when playing bassoon music that lowers the really high notes so they are closer to the staff? it looks like an odd sumbol, like a different cleff!
thanks

It is the tenor clef. Middle C is on the 4th line up. (Not to be confused with alto clef - C on middle line - which is used by the viola. I have come across this once or twice for the bassoon).

Yup that would be the tenor clef. It is used by bassoon and trombone i think, and in cello music I see it quite often.

Sometimes I think modern publishers use the tenor clef as an economical device rather than anything else - it allows them to save paper in a way, since if you were to write those high notes in the bass clef you'd have to space the music clefs much farther apart! (Just my beef since I always hate it when I'm unexpectedly confronted with tenor clef for only a few notes in a piece.)

thanks for the info