At 7:32 AM -0400 10/23/05, dhbailey wrote:
I think the problems of bass clarinets and the use of clefs is
exacerbated by the fact that many (most?) professional bass
clarinetists use instruments with extended range down to low C,
making it possible to run into that extra ledger line below the
staff.
But the typical amateur bass clarinetist is only using an instrument
with one half-step lower than the typical soprano clarinet, so the
bass clarinet part written with those folks in mind doesn't go any
lower than they already know how to play, so reading those low
ledger lines shouldn't be any problem in those sorts of parts.
There's also another factor that no one has mentioned. Bass clarinet
is one thing, but EEb contra-alto is another. Most educational
arrangements do not have separate parts for the EEb contra.
Therefore, EEb players are stuck reading a concert pitch bass clef
part as a normal thing--either bassoon or tuba, I would assume, or
even bari sax in treble clef. When I include EEb and BBb contra
parts in an arrangement, I write them transposed as for a normal
member of the clarinet family, but I always wonder whether a player
will be able to read those parts. (Our community band does not have
an EEb contra, but it does occasionally have a BBb contra, who reads
the bass clarinet part sounding down an octave, and our bass sax
player prefers to read from tuba parts. Our high schools often have
an EEb but not a BBb, and our college wind ensemble has both
available.)
As I have complained on occasion, a disadvantage of scoring for
concert band is the lack of a standard instrumentarium, and the
consequent need for thick doubling.
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
[email protected]
http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
