On Mon Apr 14, at MondayApr 14 6:12 AM, David H. Bailey wrote: > On 4/13/2014 6:48 PM, Christopher Smith wrote: >> Nah, any classically-trained bassonist, cellist or trombonist should >> be perfectly at ease with tenor clef in a classical context. >> >> In jazz and commercial music, though, C clef is definitely a >> hindrance to trombonists. I, for example, can read perfectly well >> when the context is classical in tenor or alto clef on trombone, but >> find it very hard to swing in tenor clef. Then, your stated >> preferences are correct. > [snip] > > That's very curious -- why do you think that is, that you find yourself > unable to swing while looking at tenor or alto clef? Why would the clef > change the way you interpret the note coming out of your instrument? I > understand that it is so, and I'm not asking in any attempt to be > argumentative, but really am curious? As a music teacher I'm always on > the lookout for some new angle I can use to help my students overcome > various stumbling blocks. I also understand that it may be difficult to > verbalize why you find that difficulty, but if you can do so I would > appreciate it very much. > > Thanks! > > -- > David H. Bailey
My only explanation is that I have so seldom seen jazz written in C clef, while most 19th C orchestra repertoire IS written in C clef (first trombone particularly), that I automatically go into the kind of tone production, style and articulation associated with the 19th C orchestra stuff whenever a C clef comes up. I suppose it might be possible to create a new set of default reactions in myself, but I would have decades of reactions to the contrary to overcome. Virtually 100% of the big band repertoire I have seen is in bass clef (with 8va signs when it gets very high) so that informs my "defaults". I COULD play a jazz part in C clef, but it would add a layer of decoding that might hang me up a bit, and most likely require more practice. Strangely, when playing small-group jazz, concert-pitch treble clef lead sheets are the norm, but since I am supposed to be choosing my own octave (and phrasing/paraphrasing) when playing small-group jazz, that is a somewhat different set of default reactions that when I play jazz arrangements. I have heard of similar reactions among horn players. They much prefer to see a part in the original transposition, rather than "normalised" to F horn. They don't approach the note the same way when it might be the same pitch for F horn, or C horn, or D horn, etc. You could even make the argument that there is different information in the different transposition. In fact, I suspect that most alto trombone players would have trouble playing a bass clef part! I can't recall ever having seen one, even once. (Possibly a first trombonist in a full time orchestra could contradict me, but that has been my experience so far.) Christopher _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] https://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale To unsubscribe from finale send a message to: [email protected]
