Posted by Rob Perelli-Minetti on June 22, 2000 at 15:52:11:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Bass clef Arban's book posted by Scott on June 22, 2000 at 13:57:42:
What Tom means is that the treble clef Arban book is designed with a Bb trumpet/cornet in mind, that is the fingerings will lie properly when played on a Bb trumpet. The music written in C will sound in Bb. To put out the bass clef edition, because all tubas read the same music in concert pitch, an editorial decision has to be made which key of tuba's fingerings will lie the same as the trumpet fingerings in the Arban book. When Bill Bell did part of the Arban years ago, he revised with a BBb tuba in mind. The current Complete Arban for tuba was designed so that the fingerings on a CC tuba would be the same as the Bb trumpet fingerings in the original Arban book. If you want to use the bass cleff Arban on a BBb tuba, you have two choices: 1) play it as written, understanding that the fingering patterns will be different, generally more difficult; or 2) sight transpose down a whole step, i.e., when you see a CC, play a BBb, so that the fingerings will still be the same as for Bb trumpet in the Arban.