At 6:24 AM -0500 11/26/07, dhbailey wrote:
Carlberg Jones wrote:
At 10:28 PM +0000 11/25/07, Stan Lord wrote:
I have 4 bars in E maj which transposes to 6 sharps for the trumpets.
I think they would prefer 6 flats.
Wouldn't that be eight flats?
Would it be clearer to use accidentals instead of a key change?
No, it wouldn't be 8 flats -- the original key of E (4 sharps)
transposes to F# (6 sharps) for Bb trumpet. Gb (6 flats) is the
enharmonic equivalent of F#, so he just wants to put the trumpet
music in Gb for some reason.
It's been my experience that trumpet players have no more difficult
time with 6 sharps than they have with 6 flats. It's just changing
one problematic note (E#) for another problematic note (Cb). Either
key will be difficult for less-experienced amateurs, and neither key
will be a problem for more advanced amateurs or professionals.
But since it's only for 4 bars, I'd be very tempted not to actually
change keys for those 4 bars and simply to use accidentals as needed
instead. Of course it depends on what happens just before and just
after. It the trumpets have already been in sharps, a change to
flats might actually be counterproductive in terms of sightreading,
but if they've been in flats it would make good sense.
A general note: If you're writing for strings, 6 sharps is much
better than 6 flats, and there's nothing metaphysical about it. Six
flats forces the hand down into half position, while 6 sharps keeps
it in a more natural position. In either case you've lost your open
strings anyhow.
John
--
John R. Howell
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
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