 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Reese Oller
Date: 2026-10-14 04:16
Hey all,
Is there any kind of exercise/ scale book that can help me familiarize myself with B-flat bass clef, to the point where it's just like reading treble? It's unfortunately too late for me this orchestra cycle (I'm struggling HARD with Mussorgsky and Charles Griffes), but I want to learn to be fluent!
Thanks all!
Reese Oller
Clarinet student (performance major at Millikin University)
I can play bass clarinet, Eb clarinet, BBb contra, alto saxophone, bassoon at a decent level, and flute in a pinch.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2026-10-14 06:43
Get any bassoon, euphonium or cello scale book and start there. If the music goes out of range, transpose up or down an octave as necessary.
Karl
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Author: Reese Oller
Date: 2026-10-14 23:23
Thanks all!
I might post a video of one of the Cello suites worked up sometime soon.
Reese Oller
Clarinet student (performance major at Millikin University)
I can play bass clarinet, Eb clarinet, BBb contra, alto saxophone, bassoon at a decent level, and flute in a pinch.
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Author: farabout
Date: 2026-10-15 02:25
Reese Oller wrote:
>
> Is there any kind of exercise/ scale book that can help me
> familiarize myself with B-flat bass clef, to the point where
> it's just like reading treble?
>
> I can play [..] bassoon at a decent level
>
Can these 2 points be reconciled?
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Author: lydian
Date: 2026-10-15 21:03
Yeah, how are you playing bassoon at a decent level if you haven't learned how to read bass clef? If you can indeed already read bass clef, then bass clef parts should be no problem. Are we missing something?
In any case, I had to do a similar thing to read double bass and tuba parts on the Bb bass sax. It took me a solid 6 months of constant work to get it. I started with flash cards to learn bass clef. Then I read everything in bass clef I could find - tuba, trombone, double bass, etc. After I got good at reading bass clef as-is, I started working on sight transposing. You wouldn't have to do that step though, which could shave off a couple of months.
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Author: kilo
Date: 2026-10-15 21:24
>I can play [..] bassoon at a decent level
Depends on the definition of "decent" I'd guess. Although that might suggest a lack of decency on bass clarinet, Eb clarinet, BBb contra, alto saxophone, and flute.
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Author: Reese Oller
Date: 2026-10-16 03:39
I can read C bass clef. I have played bassoon for many years, and have no issue with C bass clef. I've played many bassoon parts on bass clarinet. I play piano, too. The ISSUE is *B-FLAT* bass clef. It's undoing years of muscle memory and pitch association.
I have perfect pitch. I see a second space C, my brain is going to immediately think of a CONCERT C, our D.
Also, what kind of ******* says that to someone just trying to get better at a skill I've never had to develop before?
I am IN COLLEGE for music. I've encountered something new. I asked for help.
I see that in my absence, this place has gotten no less prone to people saying horrible things to others they barely know.
Reese Oller
Clarinet student (performance major at Millikin University)
I can play bass clarinet, Eb clarinet, BBb contra, alto saxophone, bassoon at a decent level, and flute in a pinch.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2026-10-16 05:40
Reese Oller wrote:
> I see that in my absence, this place has gotten no less prone
> to people saying horrible things to others they barely know.
>
In reality, it's only a couple of people who have written the adversarial posts. And, having read your latest post, I think this could become an interesting area of discussion.
Your original post didn't give us much to deal with. It read as if you simply don't read bass clef and want to develop fluency with it. But that doesn't seem to be the case. You say in your last post that "I can read C bass clef. I have played bassoon for many years, and have no issue with C bass clef. I've played many bassoon parts on bass clarinet. I play piano, too. The ISSUE is *B-FLAT* bass clef. It's undoing years of muscle memory and pitch association."
I think most of us (without perfect pitch) don't think of "C bass clef" and "Bb bass clef". You seem, because of your perfect pitch, to treat the bass clef as a moveable clef, similar to the C clef used by violas ("alto" clef) and sometimes cellos, trombones, bassoons and other low instruments ("tenor clef"). So, you're used to hearing the untransposed ("concert") pitch when you see a bass clef note, and your difficulty is not reading the note itself, but knowing what pitch to expect. Most of us without perfect pitch don't have that problem, or at least not with the intensity you seem to. When I read a bass clef 2nd space, I read "C" (specifically C3) and don't much care what it will sound Bb2 (unless I'm reading a score with instruments in different clefs and transpositions.
So, I have to admit that I'm not sure what would help you except doing it. Are you as uncomfortable reading a C5 on a part for soprano clarinet (treble clef)? If not, you're obviously able to deal with the discrepancy - you've probably done it long enough not to think about it any more. Can you describe your discomfort in any more detail?
Karl
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Author: lydian
Date: 2026-10-16 10:24
Yet your perfect pitch doesn't interfere at all with other transposed parts on Bb or Eb treble clef? If you can read a G on an alto sax part, and hear a Bb, why can't you read a G on bass clef and hear an F? You're already doing exactly the same thing on treble clef clarinet parts. There's got to be something else going on here. It should be no problem at for someone who can read bass clef already.
Post Edited (2026-10-16 16:34)
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