Klarinet Archive - Posting 000035.txt from 1994/06

From: Jeff Bowles <jab@-----.COM>
Subj: transposing?
Date: Wed, 8 Jun 1994 22:01:00 -0400

What tricks are there to use when transposing?

I found in high school that I could play E-flat clarinet parts on my B-flat
[soprano] by fingering the note in the clarion (sp?) register and dropping
the register key, so that a "B" became an "E" (in the wrong octave) and
a "C" became an "F", an so on. I proceeded to do this until my band director
caught wind of it and exclaimed "we don't have enough good B-flat players
to spare you!" and told me to stop. (And I did, mostly... Especially when
the E-flat parts went above high-C or so.)

I also discovered (again no surprise) that on my B-flat soprano, if I was
looking at a bass-clef part (say, tenor trombone) I could play the notes
as if they were treble-clef in the clarion register, drop the octave key,
and I'd be playing the right notes in the right octave: top-space "G" became
a low-"A" in the chameleau register, which is correct. (This is no surprise
to people who play bari sax and contralto parts, I found out later.)

Since then, I've had opportunities to read alto parts on my soprano (easy);
E-flat parts on my soprano (easy); B-flat parts on my alto (confusing, that's
up a fifth and there aren't easy tricks); B-flat bass parts on my contralto
(which are getting better). I gave up reading contrabass parts on my contralto,
since there are usually string bass parts that double the contrabass clar parts
and are easier to read: play like it's treble clef, add three sharps, play
down an octave.

The "easy" way to do a lot of this is to buy the real instrument. I'm working
on that, but until then...

What other tricks are there? Or except for fourths/fifths, is the trick
to "go slow and practice a lot"?

Jeff Bowles

ps. For anyone looking for a terrific trio, there is the Beethoven Trio
for two Oboes and an English Horn (op. 87). It's written in concert-C,
and in fact you can play it in concert B-flat by just playing the oboe
parts with two B-flat sopranos and the english horn with an alto or with
someone who wants to practice transposing on their B-flat. (It's not that bad.)

pps. I just got a new (well, used, actually, but new to me!) Selmer E-flat.
So it's off to find a good tuner to decide what alternate fingerings to use
for .. everything.