Klarinet Archive - Posting 000332.txt from 1997/03

From: "Edwin V. Lacy" <el2@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Bass clar.trans/low extensions
Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 22:23:35 -0500

On Mon, 10 Mar 1997, Peter Stoll wrote:

> I confess, this 2nd vs. 9th math has always slightly confounded me; in
> terms of the part I'm looking at, what would the difference be? Sorry for
> those who find this stuff elem.
>
> On Sun, 9 Mar 1997, Edwin V. Lacy wrote:
>
> > According to the book "The Technique of Orchestration" by Kent Kennan, it
> > was customary in the 19th century for the bass clarinet, when written in
> > bass clef, to sound only a M2 lower than written, rather than a M9.

Let's say you want to sound the note "c" which is one octave below middle
C. On the grand staff, with no transpositions involved, you would write
the note I am talking about on the 2nd space of the bass clef.

The way that would be written today for the bass clarinet, you would
transpose it up one octave plus a whole step, and write it in the treble
clef. Therefore, the note would be written as a D on the first space
below the staff. However, if the part contained a lot of low note
playing, enough so that the many added ledger lines below the staff would
be confusing, you could write it in bass clef. However, the transposition
would be the same, so you would write D on the second space above the bass
clef staff.

However, in the 19th century, there was a different convention. When the
bass clarinet was written in the treble clef, it was handled just as
above. But, in the bass clef, the transposition was just a whole step, or
major second. Thus, to sound the same C we were talking about before, the
composer or arranger would have written D on the 3rd line of the bass
clef.

That practice extended into the 20th century for some composers. Some of
them might occasionally be so considerate as to put a note in the score
telling which transposition they were using. They more often did this for
the French horns, who have a similar but even more complicated problem.
If there is no indication, the player has to try to figure out from the
context which is involved. Often, the best places for looking for clues
are at the places where the changes from one clef to the other occur. For
example, if there is a melodic passage which begins in treble clef and
then changes to bass, it might be possible to tell which transposition is
called for. Another clue could be the tessitura. For example, if in
using one transposition or the other the part would remain for long
passages in the extreme registers in the bass clef part, or exceed the
normal limitations of the range of the instrument, that might tell you
what the composer was thinking.

However, in the piece you originally wrote about, you mentioned that there
occurred both a "low C" and a "high A." I guess I should have asked which
"A" you were talking about, or just exactly how "high" it was.

Note that no matter which procedure the composer would follow for notes in
the bass clef, the treble clef parts should be unaffected. Further, all
the above pertains to the bass clarinet in Bb. For bass clarinet in other
keys, the procedures would be similar, but the transpositions would be
different.

With this information, you are now qualified to pose and answer this
often-used trivia question: Which is the only woodwind instrument of the
symphony orchestra which is a transposing instrument when it is written in
the bass clef? (Note: octave transpositions excluded - such as for
contra-bassoon.)

I hope this helps.

Ed Lacy
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Dr. Edwin Lacy University of Evansville
Professor of Music 1800 Lincoln Avenue
Evansville, IN 47722
el2@-----.edu (812)479-2754
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