Klarinet Archive - Posting 000216.txt from 2002/04

From: Anna Benassi <acb@-----.is>
Subj: [kl] One more transposing technique
Date: Fri, 5 Apr 2002 04:01:43 -0500

Glad to hear Sean mention the benefits of clef reading as a
transposition technique. I have found it immensely useful in teaching,
as well as in playing. I often accompany flute students by playing the
continuo part of Handel sonatas on a clarinet or bass clarinet. The
dreaded mezzo soprano clef comes in handy there and allows me to
transpose bass clef up a step in one fell swoop - I find this easier
than reading bass clef and then thinking up a step. Alto clef is even
more useful, as I can play anything written (in treble clef) for a C
instrument on my Bb clarinet. I use other clefs less often, but it's
my goal (not yet realized) to be comfortable reading all seven of
them.

I feel personally that clef reading has strengthened my visual sense
of intervallic relationships. When you practice several different
clefs, you become familiar with the "look" of a fifth, a fourth, a
seventh, and so on. And you gain practice in automatically filling in
note names (and fingerings) for those intervals. Somehow I have sensed
that it helps me improve sight-reading skills in treble clef.

And it's important to remember that clef reading makes score reading
much easier. We must all be ready to read and study scores of clarinet
quintets, for example, not to mention larger works. If we know alto
clef, the viola part is no mystery. Knowing tenor clef keeps life
simple when the cello part uses it. A band director colleague of mine
uses most of the clefs on a regular basis. It has become a fixed asset
in his portfolio of skills as a conductor and score reader. The
French, by the way, are very advanced in teaching the clefs. Eschig
and Lemoine both publish excellent study materials by French
pedagogues for those interested in this form of mental gymnastics.

Best to all,

Anna

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