> >Second, be careful with what you're trying to do. Standard practice >for bass clarinet in Bb is to write it up a major ninth, rather than >the usual major second for regular Bb clarinet. In that case, the >lowest written note for bass clarinet is an E below middle C, which >doesn't really require bass clef at all. > > >Aaron. >
This is not good advice. First of all, the bass clarinet does indeed use the bass clef in the traditional notation practices of many Central and Eastern European countries, most prominently including Germany and Austria. In that notation, the instrument sounds only a major second below the notated pitch *in both clefs.* Use of treble clef alone, transposing down a ninth, is indeed traditional for Western Europe and the New World, however the instrument itself descends to *at least* Eb (which of course may sometimes be written as D#) on any professional and most stundent instruments. The vast majority of bcls. in professional symphony and opera orchestras descend to the C below that--notated 4 ledger lines below the treble staff!--since there are numerous important works that require those depths. On such an instrument an extended passage in the bottom octave may well tempt one to use the bass clef, but if you do, it is important to include an explanatory note so that this will not be confused w. the German notation. Finally, someone mentioned the contrabass clarinet. The Bb contrabass clarinet sounds an octave lower than bcl in the French system but in the German system there is apparently disagreement as to whether it should use the same transposition as the bcl, or sound an octave lower. -- Andrew Stiller Kallisti Music Press http://www.kallistimusic.com _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
