Klarinet Archive - Posting 000258.txt from 1997/09

From: Mike Nichols <mrn8395@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: treble clef
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 14:06:36 -0400

On Sat, 6 Sep 1997 SJayne3137@-----.com wrote:

> Personally, I find it easier to read treble cleff for my bass clarinet parts.
> Most of the time though, we play the Tenor Sax part becasue the bass part is
> written in bass cleff, and none of us bass clarinet players know how to read
> bass cleff. I have never looked at a tenor or alto cleff in my life (not that
> I am that old anyways - 14) so I have no idea what they look like. Oh well!
>

Alto clef and tenor clef are the same shape. They look something like this:

|{

The difference between the two is where they are placed on the staff.
The trick to reading these clefs is that the middle of the clef is always
supposed to rest on middle C. In the case of the alto clef, the middle
rests on the third line of the staff (what would be B with a treble
clef). The tenor clef rests one line up from that (second line from the
top).

In American band music, you don't see these clefs very often, but in
orchestral scores they are frequent, especially the alto clef in viola
parts. I never had to use them for anything until I started writing
music. If you can read them, they are definitely a convenience for
instruments with large ranges, like bassoons and trombones.

Mike Nichols (a fellow Houstonian, now at Texas A&M University)
mnichols@-----.edu