On 14 Sep 2011 at 9:40, Patrick Sheehan wrote:

> WHY is this treble "8" clef used in
> printed music today when it used to be printed in bass clef most of
> the time.  

Your secondary premise is COMPLETELY FALSE. That is, printing tenor 
vocal parts in bass clef is a minority practice.

The fact is that tradition was to print the tenor part in TENOR CLEF, 
to reduce leger lines. But as that clef fell out of favor, the 
treble8 clef was invented. It is a modern invention, but it's almost 
universal in modern published editions.

Using either bass clef or treble clef would result in an unacceptable 
number of ledger lines, seems to me, and that's why something 
different is needed.

> And, does this bother anyone else, and do you agree that it
> should be abolished?

I think that printing a tenor part in bass clef or treble clef is the 
practice that should be abolished -- it's much less readable than the 
alternatives (tenor clef or treble8).

-- 
David W. Fenton                    http://dfenton.com
David Fenton Associates       http://dfenton.com/DFA/

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