Re: Playing trebble cleff


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Posted by Eugene Whitmore on March 08, 2004 at 02:04:44:

In Reply to: Playing trebble cleff posted by Dick on March 07, 2004 at 13:02:06:

Dick,

I feel your pain! My situation is just the opposite. I started in the 6th grade on Treble Clef Baritone, but when I started college, my conductor said, and I quote, "there is no such thing as a treble clef baritone!" and handed me a bass clef part. Basically, a sink or swim situation.

What I did was to forget note names. I just figured out which line (or space) is which fingering. It worked!, and within a rehearsal or 3, reading the notes wasn't a problem. Of course, that was 30 years ago and my "dirt" at that time was only 7 years old. Eventually, the bottom line of the staff started looking like a "g," rather than an "e."

As things happen, I later got an EEb tuba to play in quintet. So, I read the bass clef tuba part as if it were in treble clef and add 3 sharps (or subtract 3 flats). Seeing an Eb below the (written) bass clef staff, I read it as "middle" C, and play the fingerings as I originally learned them.

Now, I play in a Brass Band, not on my Eb, but a Bb tuba. The music is written in my "mother tongue" so to speak, so treble clef isn't a problem. The note that you see as Eb below the staff, is still open as it was on my Eb horn, I play as a C.

The trouble comes about when I need to play a bass clef part on my Bb tuba! That same note (Eb below the staff) is no longer "open," but is "1." In college, it was "1-4," (low Eb on my euph), but now it's an octave higher on the horn. Jeeze! The note that I eventually learned as a "low" Bb in college, I now have to read as a "high" Bb. It's maddening.

However, the ability to read both clefs is definatley a benefit, and worth the time and effort required.

Eugene




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