Klarinet Archive - Posting 000313.txt from 2004/09

From: jab <jab@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Franck Symphony 3 bass clarinet in TC?
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2004 18:42:45 -0400


On Sep 18, 2004, at 1:43 PM, Stephen C. Moore wrote:
> I learned this the hard way too. I really embarassed myself with the
> bass clarinet part to Prokofiev Symphony No. 5. So I rewrote the
> part, and after the ordeal was over, I decided I didn't want that to
> happen to me again, so I learned how to read bass cleff.....

Yeah. Years ago, I played the Shostokovich Festive Overture
(2nd Clar) in orchestra, and didn't have an A clarinet.

That piece is in A, by the way. (The band transcription's in A-flat,
don't ask me why.)

I transcribed the part for my B-flat, partly to get the practice
copying out parts. It didn't take long to get to the point that
playing A parts on the B-flat was "mostly okay."

For me, it's tougher to read a part on paper and play a note
that's lower, than the other way around. (For example, playing
an E-flat clar part on my soprano is easier than an E-flat alto part.)

The real fun is learning to transpose on piano, now that I'm
taking it up. (Turns out that, like clarinet, transposing fourths and
fifths is easy.)

-Jeff Bowles

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