Posted by Klaus on September 19, 2001 at 02:15:53:
In Reply to: Re: Holst "The Planets" tenor tuba part posted by Kenneth Sloan on September 18, 2001 at 23:12:58:
Kenneth has a point!
Of course I am a confessed Finale fan, but for transposing simple, more or less, ensemble parts, I would find it overkill.
Anybody playing an instrument seriously (and the Holst part certainly is a serious segment of the euph’s orchestral rep) should learn to play it by all the notations common for that instrument.
Learning to transpose/reading-alternatively is a matter of motivation.
My motivation was, that I was too lazy to re-write parts. Just let the youngster transpose by hand on the note pad. After half a page he should have gotten the basic idea and exclaim: "I will do it from the provided part!"
Common wisdom has it, that there are two main schools of transposition: by key, as in the French horn/trumpet business, or by clef as in the trombone/strings business.
Actually the Holst situation involves both these aspect, and I see the situation a bit different anyway.
For me transposition is a matter of a changed relations between read and played pitches. Some players do the trick by pre-hearing the difference. Others, like me, move the notes with their eyes and then play, what they "read". The outcome, counted in sound, is the same.
Klaus