Hi folks,
I'd be interested in getting some opinions regarding clef changes. And, if any violists are out there, I'd love to hear how you feel about reading in treble clef for extended periods of time.
Well, here's personal opinion from one violist. First choice would be to leave it in alto clef, period. Second choice would be to use treble for extended periods. A very, very bad third choice would be to constantly change back and forth between the two, making accurate sightreading almost impossible!
I'm working on a viola sonata right now, and the composer stays pretty high in the range throughout the whole piece. His manuscript is mostly in treble, but that's due to his inexperience with the alto clef. In fact, he used ledger lines down to the open C in one passage.
If I got a piece of music with treble clef down to open C, it would go in the trash. I wouldn't bother spending time on it. In fact if this composer is that unfamiliar with viola, I wonder whether the music that comes out would be WORTH spending time on.
i'm inclined to leave large portions of it in treble clef, just to give the performer's eyes a break.
Ah, but you're intelligent enough to ask the players; good for you!!!
Do any of you have some rules of thumb you'd like to share? How many ledger lines above the staff would you go in alto clef? How many below in treble clef? 3 on either side?
C'mon! We may play viola, but we're not otherwise ritarded!! At least 5 or 6 above the alto clef is perfectly fine. Violinists have to read higher than that. After all, what you're reading as you go up the fingerboard is not really note names, but note patterns and fingering patterns, whether you're playing violin, viola, cello or bass. That's why bouncing back and forth between clefs with no good reason interrupts sightreading.
How many below treble clef? I suppose I wouldn't object to open G, if there were a good reason for it (wide leaps, for instance, in which case the note patterns are indeed clearer by staying in one clef or the other), but in the absense of a good reason you've got no business using treble below the staff, period! Since Hindemith was a violist, take a look at his sonatas and what he did with clefs. (And I'm very glad you didn't ask about using 8va; it's an option, but not a very good one.)
I warned you it was personal opinion! And I suspect that cellists would react the same way to a question of jumping back and forth from tenor to bass clefs (let alone treble!).
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 _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
