The old British Brass Band system actually illustrates the practicality of transposing instruments. Forgetting trombones for a moment, just think about it: everyone in the room, from Eb soprano cornet down to Bb Bass [tuba] has the same notation and fingering for every note. Players can, and often do, shift from one instrument to another with only a mouthpiece adjustment. If someone asks "What's the fingering for G#?" the director doesn't even have to look up to see who asked the question before he answers "2&3"! For every American beginning band director (with thirteen or so different fingerings, transpositions, and types of sounds productions to teach every day) who has envied the orchestra director down the hall whom he can hear yelling "For E, everyone put your index finger on the D string! Now, everybody downbow!" to his whole group, the British brass band system would be simplicity defined.
But, in the real world, American brass band publications in the last decade or two often include alternate bass clef parts. Of course, the bass trombone part has always, traditionally been in bass clef. I assume that is because the instrument of choice in England in the past was the bass trombone in G, but when that (perhaps somewhat rarer) instrument wasn't available, a tenor in Bb could fill in, reading the bass clef part. (Just my assumption - we should all give thanks they didn't give it a treble clef part in G!) Trombonists around here usually don't complain much about treble clef in brass band because they can read the Bb treble as "tenor clef, add 2 flats" (but watch out for those C flats in "Montreal Citadel" - they may look like B flats but they're really B double flats!) If your trombonists balk at the clef, get them a copy of Reginald Fink's _Introducing Tenor Clef_ - it even has a section on reading Bb treble clef. Euphonium and Baritone players should (hopefully) realize the need to become familiar with Bb treble if they are not already - it's a great part of their tradition. The worst problem is for the C tuba players. They can handle the Eb treble clef parts by reading them as "bass clef, add three flats" but they often have a lot of trouble with the Bb treble parts. Bb tuba players are usually fine with treble clef. I've arranged and written several pieces for a local brass band. At first I printed treble and bass clef parts for all the trombones, euphs, and basses, but later I figured out that all I needed to print were treble clef-only for the trombones and euphs, and bass clef-only for the basses. Ray Horton ----- Original Message ----- From: "Horace Brock" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, January 10, 2004 11:35 AM Subject: Re: [Finale] No key signature on contemporary score > Conventions are often very strong, just as custom has more influence > on everyday life than law. Take, for instance, the British style brass > band. > > ALL of the parts in a brass band score are notated in treble clef, in > either Bb transposing or Eb transposing. True, most of the instruments > are either Bb or Eb transposing, but why are the tenor trombone parts > written as Bb transposing, in treble clef? Convention. In fact, the > convention is so strong that even in the United States, where brass > bands are making a comeback, we are doing the same thing, even though > most American trombone players read mostly bass clef untransposed. It > would be lots easier to recruit bone players if they didn't have to > learn a new notation, and yet we keep to the convention. > > When I write a piece for the band I play trombone with, it would be > ever so easy in Finale to print untransposed trombone parts, but do I > do it? No. Why? Convention. It simply isn't done. > > Horace Brock > > > On Fri, 9 Jan 2004 23:33:04 -0500, you wrote: > > > > >"Christopher BJ Smith" said > > > >> Why do trombones (and tubas) > >> get off easily, while trumpets have to transpose? They have the same > >> concert pitch open note (an octave apart). > > > >Easy? You think it's easy to pick up an alto trombone, learn a totally new > >proportion of shorter positions, learn a totally new relationship of those > >shorter positions to notes, all on an instrument that plays different notes > >in a different key than the one you've played since you were 11 years old? > >Guess again! > > > >(BTW, There ARE materials available out there so a trombonist can learn alto > >trombone as a transposing instrument, in bass clef, along with standard rep > >orchestral parts transposed into this weird > >transposed-bass-clef-for-alto-trombone, so all the player has to get used to > >are the new shorter positions and the higher pitch of the horn. It has > >gained some bit of popularity, but not a lot.) > > > >Trombone is the only orchetral instrument that is commonly written in four > >clefs, by the way. Try doing that on tenor AND alto trombone, sometime. > > > >Tuba - they read the same pitches, and same clef, nearly all the time - but > >have to use different fingerings depending on what instrument they play. > >Nearly all tubists play two keys of instruments, many play three, and some > >play four. > > > >And you call that easy? > > > >"Christopher BJ Smith" continues > > > >> I know the historical path > >> of choosing a Bb instrument from the many available lengths of > >> natural trumpets to add valves to, because they liked the sound of it > >> better at the time, adn that trumpet players were used to always > >> seeing their parts notated in C up to that point, but the only reason > >> to write trumpets in Bb today is because of convention. There is no > >> other reason. > > > >Write for Bb trumpets when you are writing for band or high school > >orchestra, or for any type ensemble aimed at high school - ALWAYS write for > >Bb trumpet in those situations, because that is the instrument that 99 1/2 > >per cent of the players will have, and you should always keep that instument > >stictly in mind when writing for high school players. If you are writing > >for college band, Bb trumpet would be the norm, in print, at least. > > > >If you are writing for professional, serious players, C trumpet is the > >standard instument. One could still write for Bb trumpet, and many do, but > >players will normally play the part on C trumpet unless there is a good > >musical reason in the part to do otherwise. Smaller trumpets can be > >specified, but then the composer's specification and the player's equipment > >and preferences can start to conflict. > > > >In any commercial situation, Bb trumpets are the norm. Higher keys can be > >asked of pros. > > > >C scores are OK. I , like Christopher, prefer transposed. But Bb trumpet > >parts are not needed in professional serious situations, unless the Bb > >trumpet is preferred for the music. > > > >Ray Horton > > > > > >_______________________________________________ > >Finale mailing list > >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale > > > _______________________________________________ > Finale mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale > _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
