John Howell �crit:Andrew is exactly right, and the use of alto, tenor and bass clefs for alto, tenor and bass trombones lasted through the end of the 19th century in orchestral music. A more pertinent question, however, might be what clefs to use for modern players. Granted, well-prepared symphony trombonists will be able to read anything you put in front of them, just as horn and trumpet players will, but Concert Band, Military Band, Wind Ensemble and Jazz Ensemble players do NOT, generally speaking, read the C clefs. And students will typically not read tenor clef, either, unless they are studying with a teacher who makes sure they do. So it's important to identify the level of skill the players you are writing for will have.
Thanks to all for the advice. This is for a modern edition, so I don't really know who will be playing it. Certainly not symphony trombonists. Probably many will play the part on another instrument if the ensemble doesn't have a trombone player. The original being in C4, I could keep the original clef (but will the average early music performer be happy with this?). The only "modern" clef I could use would be the octava G clef (used for tenor parts). Are instrumentalists used to this clef? Or is it only singers who read it?
Dennis
Use bass clef, especially if this is, as it seems, an all-purpose edition that may be played on a variety of instruments (as it would have been at the time). The tenor G clef may be familiar to players who have a lot of experience in early music, since it would be the clef for someone doubling the tenor line, but most instrumentalists have never come across it.
But there's something that occurred to me that none of us has commented on. In the 16th century (definitely) and on into the 17th (in many cases), the clef chosen had nothing to do with the instrument specified. Indeed, often the instruments were NOT specified, because the composer/arranger knew perfectly well that the local band leader or choir director would use whatever instrumentalists (and singers!) were at hand. Singers and players were taught the 9 movable clefs and could read any of them.
So what did the clef indicate? The range of the part. Virtually always in the 16th century and very often in the 17th a clef was chosen that kept the part within the staff, so the original clef is an important clue as to the range of the part and, therefore, what instruments it would have been suitable for. A "bass" part--the lowest sounding part--might not necessarily lie in what we consider the "bass" range, and the lowest sounding part can be found in bass clef (F4), subbass clef (F5; rare, but it was used), baritone clef (F3), tenor clef (C4) or more rarely alto clef (C3). (This leaves aside the question of "chiavette" or transposing clefs, on which there is still quite a bit of speculation and disagreement. In fact I'm sorry I brought it up!) Boulenger was still teaching the 9 clefs, but they never caught on in America. A shame, considering that late 19th century choral-orchestral works like the Brahms Requiem still have the vocal lines in soprano (C1), alto (C3), tenor (C4) and bass (F4) clefs.
John
-- John & Susie Howell Virginia Tech Department of Music Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
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