At 4:53 AM -0700 6/29/11, Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre wrote: > >I then made the brass band version with parts in the standard brass >band notation and supplemented with the trombone and tuba parts in >bass clef concert notation. Baritone and euphonium players usually >have been through the trumpet version of Arban, so they know Bb >treble clef (written a ninth above the actual sounding pitch), but >American bands often use ringers on trombones and tubas, and these >ringers often are limited to reading bass clef.
Hi, Klaus, and thanks so much for expanding on my earlier post. I'm wondering what you mean by "ringers"? In the U.S. that term usually refers to professional players (or at least more competent players) who are brought in at the last minute to improve the sound or fill out the instrumentation of a band or orchestra. But that doesn't sound like what you meant, since most brass bands have the traditional instrumentation. But you're essentially correct. Most U.S. trombonists and tubists have never seen a treble clef part, and would not be able to read it. Just as most U.S. euphonium players read either treble clef OR bass clef, but not both, so we have to provide both. (And yes, I know that treble clef trombone parts read like tenor clef, but very few U.S. band trombonists read tenor clef, either!) These are all things that CAN be learned, but too often are simply not learned. >American tuba ringers often bring their main instrument, which >usually is a fairly big CC or BBb tuba. As they cannot read from the >treble clef BBb part, they apply a well known reading trick, which >is to read from the Eb tuba part and just mentally change the key >signature and substitute the treble clef with the bass clef. I suppose it's possible that some people do that, but when I had to I simply learned the three different tuba fingerings depending on what I was playing at the time. I learned on BBb many years ago, have been playing a very nice compensating Eb for a bit over 10 years, and had to play a CC in the pit one summer. (I've never had an F tuba in my hands.) I have NEVER had to read any tuba part in treble clef using trumpet fingerings, and I would not really want to try, even though in theory I should be able to do so. >The result being a row of huge tubas playing the bass tuba line, >while the contrabass tuba line is more or less neglected. Bad from >any point of view. And with more modern scoring, where the tuba >lines often are more detailed, leading to gross misrepresentations >of the scores. It's hard to say which is worse, having all the tubas playing the lower line (much more common, and thus leaving out an important mid-low voice), or having the players think of the two parts as "1st tuba" and "2nd tuba" with the best players taking the upper part regardless of the instrument they have. Since the Eb I play has only 3 valves, I don't have much choice!!! But every specialized branch of the music business has its own special quirks, and writers simply have to learn them. There's an ongoing discussion on the SibeliusList right now about barbershop harmony! John -- John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music Virginia Tech Department of Music College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences 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 "We never play anything the same way once." Shelly Manne's definition of jazz musicians. _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
