 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: C.Elizabeth07
Date: 2012-12-23 19:12
My transpositions skills are really shabby and I have parts that are written for c clarinet that i need to learn for an up coming performance/audition. What is a good way to approach practicing this skill?
I know how to transpose and understand the transposition but its the actual action of reading and playing.
Typically, for me, when i play i dont think in terms of note names just symbols, symbols mean fingerings so when I transpose it feels like my brain is going to blow a fuse.
I've been working slowly through the orchestral rep but I feel like I am memorizing it bit by bit rather than actually reading and transposing it.
When transposing C clarinet parts I've heard some people prefer playing it on Bb, others on A. Any advice on how to think of it or approach it would be a great help!
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Author: mrn
Date: 2012-12-23 21:52
C.Elizabeth07 wrote:
> When transposing C clarinet parts I've heard some people prefer
> playing it on Bb, others on A.
In my case, that all depends on what the part looks like. The Bb clarinet is probably going to sound a little closer to what a C clarinet sounds like than an A, but occasionally you'll run across a part where the fingerings are more natural on the A clarinet and if smoothness and speed are important, then the A clarinet makes more sense.
The point I'm trying to make is this--if you have to transpose, pick the instrument you'll use according to the requirements of the music rather than personal preference.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-12-23 22:11
As a general rule, if the music is in flat keys (ie. keys of F to Db Major and their relative minors), then it's usually best to use a Bb clarinet. If the music is in sharp keys (ie. keys of G to B Major and their relative minors), then an A clarinet would suit them better.
If the music is in C Major/A minor or G Major/E minor, then use the clarinet that makes things easiest for you. If you don't mind playing in two or three sharps then use a Bb and if you don't mind playing in three or two flats, use an A clarinet.
But it isn't always as clear cut as that - you might prefer to use an A clarinet when playing in Concert D minor (which is F minor on an A) or Concert Db Major (E Major on an A) depending on the circumstances if certain passages or trills/tremolos and other intervals are made easier.
The best way to learn sight transposition is to do it - take a piece of Concert pitch music (flute/oboe/violin/vocal/etc.) and play it up a tone on a Bb clarinet and up a minor 3rd on an A clarinet. Better still is play along to a recording reading off the Concert pitch part so you're doing it on the fly and don't have the opportunity to stop and go back - you will soon adapt and make fewer mistakes.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2012-12-23 22:30
The main point when transposing is to get the new key firmly in your mind so that you can transpose many sections such as scale runs and arpeggios by just playing them in the new key and not trying to read note for note.
so a G maj scale run becomes an A maj run you just start it a whole tone higher (on the Bb clar) or it becomes a Bb maj run on the A clar starting a min third higher.
Personally I find the whole tone transposition easier than the minor third and so chose to use the Bb clarinet as much as possible.
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Author: davyd
Date: 2012-12-24 13:46
Sight transposing is a good skill to have, and I'm not knocking it by any means. But if you have a performance/audition coming up, find the time to rewrite the part for whichever instrument you choose. Performances and auditions are stressful enough already.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2012-12-24 14:08
I used to encourage my students to practice transposing buy using older etudes. I don't know how many actually took my advise, just reading one etude each day transposing to C clarinet from a Bb clarinet and to A from a Bb clarinet. Those are the most common. Using the Bb to transpose to a C part is by far the most commonly used. I've rarley done it from my A clarinet. If you read bass clef well using your A clarinet to transpose a C part can be done reading in as bass clef with the proper change of key signature but I still always prefered to do it from my Bb clarinet even though I'm very comfortable with the bass clef.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: John Peacock
Date: 2012-12-25 11:27
A trick that works for me in playing C clarinet parts on a Bb is to look at the top of the note and imagine that it is the centre. Then the main part of the transposition is done for you automatically, and you just have to keep track of the key signature and hope that the piece doesn't have too many written accidentals. The latter are what really make the job hard - it takes a huge effort of will to believe that written E sharp should be fingered as G, for example.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2012-12-25 15:17
This will be of no help to the original post but I have a query for those of you who do this well with no problem.
Do you think of the notes merely as a stack of seven named notes and just mentally shift that stack at will?
I ask this because those I'd spoken to about it who are mad transposers (usually horn players) say that they merely think of the music in a different clef and just mentally change the key signature.
Speaking as one who has had the same problem as the poster, I always associated the position on the lines and spaces with the notes rather than thinking of the notes themselves.
............Paul Aviles
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2012-12-25 15:22
I don't even think about the names of the notes, I just work on their position on the stave.
Tony F.
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Author: cigleris
Date: 2012-12-25 19:39
I just do it on both A and Bb. I don't think about it. I suppose having a good ear and a good sense of pitch helps.
Peter Cigleris
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Author: cigleris
Date: 2012-12-25 23:02
Paul,
I wasn't really referring to perfect pitch, I don't have it but I do have a good sense of relative pitch which helps.
I've been transposing since th age of about 15 when I was in the City of Plymouth Concert Band. I used to play Oboe parts (as well as lead the band) when the player never showed up to rehearsals. Looking back it was good training.
Peter Cigleris
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