Posted by AW on April 26, 2003 at 11:13:53:
I noticed an odd phenomenon the other day. I am accustomed to reading bass clef like other tubists. However I also read song lead sheets, which usually have the tune written at concert pitch along with chord symbols in treble clef (my tuba sounding two octaves lower). It's fun to do, and my teacher and I will alternate playing the tune and playing a bass line.
I was trying to arrange a tune for a student recital, and had the tuba part in the usual bass clef. I found that I was missing some notes due to reading confusion. It seems that I was expecting to read music of this type in treble, not bass clef. My teacher told me that he really had to work at it to change his "mental gears" to read this traditional jazz tune in bass clef. The next week I showed up with the tuba part in treble clef, and everything was back to normal.
Just to show the opposite side, I was trying to read some Telemann flute music (in the original treble clef). Mostly it went OK, but there was the occasional brain freeze. My teacher suggested transpose the music to bass clef. I will do so when I get the chance; I need more bass clef sight reading practice anyway.
My questions are: How do other tubists feel about clefs? Do you expect different music to be in different clefs? Or, do you just like to read bass clef?
Allen Walker
pipes2000(AT)theatreorgans.com