As a woodwind player, the only practical reason that I can see for writing the bass clef for bass clar. is the avoidance of a lot of ledger lines. As a clarinet player, I'm used to seeing 3 ledger lines below the staff, and 4 above. With the modern bass clar.'s ability to play as low as written C 4 ledger lines and a space below the treble staff, I can understand why one might want to write passages this low in bass clef. I would think that an even more practical approach would be to write the passage an octave higher and mark it 8ba., but still in treble clef. Although I'm capable of doing it, I don't like to read anything in bass clef, because I have to consciously tell my fingers where to go. When I read treble clef parts, my fingers go to the right keys automatically. I guess that comes from playing sax, clar. and flute for 50 years, all of which are written in treble clef. I can certainly see the practicality of training oneself to read bass clef, for the reasons stated by others, though.
As a copyist-engraver, I might question the client on writing bass clef for bass clar., but ultimately, if that's what he wants, that's what I'll give him.
Lon ******************************************** Lon Price, Los Angeles <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <http://www.txstnr.com> _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
