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Re: Bass cleff v Treble clef

To: <brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Bass cleff v Treble clef
From: "Solo Cornet" <solo.cornet@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 10:29:27 -0000
Priority: low
Reply-to: brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 My wife who was trained orchestrally and who has taught
>music for the last 17 years has always found the constant treble clef
>scoring in brass band music perplexing as she maintains that it doesn't
make
>musical sense not to use a range of clefs depending on the pitch of the
>instrument and notes it can produce.

For as long as I can remember this argument has popped up from time to time.
I t is usually put forward by musical snobs from outside the band world (I'm
sure your wife doesn't fall into this category) who seek to prove that bands
are not properly musically literate and are therefore somehow less worthy
than other ensembles.
Rubbish, obviously!
The system is appropriate to band culture, allowing players to transfer
between instruments easily, and it has served well since the very first
saxhorn bands.
Non-brass musicians who claim to find the scores confusing simply need to
study, in the same way they had to learn alto and tenor clefs and a whole
range of transpositions to make sense of orchestral scores (assuming they
can).
Does anyone ever make similar criticisms of big-band scoring where the sax
parts from soprano to bass are also written exclusively in the treble clef?

Andy Callard.


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