Bass clarinet notation in the Rite of Spring and other piecesBass Clarinet: Rubber vs Plastic Mouthpiece?Orchestration and painting evenly over the spectrumMore volume from a Bass ClarinetHistory of Russian Clarinet/Bass Clarinet low notesWhat is the diameter of a clarinet and bass clarinet mouthpiece?Orchestra notation and harmonyHow hard would it be to switch from a bass clarinet to a soprano sax?Instrumentation of the Rite of SpringWhen I play G, why does it come out as F on bass clarinet?How should I write a tutti chord?
Why do legislative committees exist?
Redox reactions redefined
Filtering fine silt/mud from water (not necessarily bacteria etc.)
What is 誘われて (Sasowarete) in this song lyric?
How would someone destroy a black hole that’s at the centre of a planet?
Can someone explain this logical statement?
Can a continent naturally split into two distant parts within a week?
Should you avoid redundant information after dialogue?
3D-Plot with an inequality condition for parameter values
Commutator subgroup of Heisenberg group.
Hot object in a vacuum
Spider-Man: Far From Home - Why do they take a detour to Dorset?
Construct a pentagon avoiding compass use
I gave my characters names that are exactly like another book. Is it a problem?
Are L-functions uniquely determined by their values at negative integers?
Use of "sit" instead of "est" in Virgil
Relationship between GCD, LCM and the Riemann Zeta function
Why does linear regression use "vertical" distance to the best-fit-line, instead of actual distance?
Why use null function instead of == []
Why is dry soil hydrophobic? Bad gardener paradox
Why do they not say "The Baby"
writting to disk and compress with xz at the same time
Asking for higher salary after I increased my initial figure
Remove intersect line for one circle using venndiagram2sets
Bass clarinet notation in the Rite of Spring and other pieces
Bass Clarinet: Rubber vs Plastic Mouthpiece?Orchestration and painting evenly over the spectrumMore volume from a Bass ClarinetHistory of Russian Clarinet/Bass Clarinet low notesWhat is the diameter of a clarinet and bass clarinet mouthpiece?Orchestra notation and harmonyHow hard would it be to switch from a bass clarinet to a soprano sax?Instrumentation of the Rite of SpringWhen I play G, why does it come out as F on bass clarinet?How should I write a tutti chord?
.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty margin-bottom:0;
I am a clarinettist so I am a little embarrassed to need to ask this. I have not played the bass clarinet. I am looking at a miniature score of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring (Dover Miniature Scores).
Towards the end of The Ritual Action of the Ancestors, there are two bass clarinets playing. The second part is written in the bass clef and the first switches to the bass clef at bar 143. I thought that the bass clarinet was a transposing instrument (down a major 9th) and would be written in the treble clef. As a player, how would I interpret the bass clef? Would I now consider my instrument as only transposing by a major second?
More generally, what notation is used for the bass clarinet?
Note that this question has been split. The original mention of the instrumentation is in a new question.
orchestration bass-clarinet
asked Jul 6 at 15:15
badjohnbadjohn
2,3937 silver badges25 bronze badges
add a comment |
I am a clarinettist so I am a little embarrassed to need to ask this. I have not played the bass clarinet. I am looking at a miniature score of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring (Dover Miniature Scores).
Towards the end of The Ritual Action of the Ancestors, there are two bass clarinets playing. The second part is written in the bass clef and the first switches to the bass clef at bar 143. I thought that the bass clarinet was a transposing instrument (down a major 9th) and would be written in the treble clef. As a player, how would I interpret the bass clef? Would I now consider my instrument as only transposing by a major second?
More generally, what notation is used for the bass clarinet?
Note that this question has been split. The original mention of the instrumentation is in a new question.
orchestration bass-clarinet
asked Jul 6 at 15:15
badjohnbadjohn
2,3937 silver badges25 bronze badges
add a comment |
I am a clarinettist so I am a little embarrassed to need to ask this. I have not played the bass clarinet. I am looking at a miniature score of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring (Dover Miniature Scores).
Towards the end of The Ritual Action of the Ancestors, there are two bass clarinets playing. The second part is written in the bass clef and the first switches to the bass clef at bar 143. I thought that the bass clarinet was a transposing instrument (down a major 9th) and would be written in the treble clef. As a player, how would I interpret the bass clef? Would I now consider my instrument as only transposing by a major second?
More generally, what notation is used for the bass clarinet?
Note that this question has been split. The original mention of the instrumentation is in a new question.
orchestration bass-clarinet
asked Jul 6 at 15:15
badjohnbadjohn
2,3937 silver badges25 bronze badges
I am a clarinettist so I am a little embarrassed to need to ask this. I have not played the bass clarinet. I am looking at a miniature score of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring (Dover Miniature Scores).
Towards the end of The Ritual Action of the Ancestors, there are two bass clarinets playing. The second part is written in the bass clef and the first switches to the bass clef at bar 143. I thought that the bass clarinet was a transposing instrument (down a major 9th) and would be written in the treble clef. As a player, how would I interpret the bass clef? Would I now consider my instrument as only transposing by a major second?
More generally, what notation is used for the bass clarinet?
Note that this question has been split. The original mention of the instrumentation is in a new question.
orchestration bass-clarinet
orchestration bass-clarinet
asked Jul 6 at 15:15
badjohnbadjohn
2,3937 silver badges25 bronze badges
asked Jul 6 at 15:15
badjohnbadjohn
2,3937 silver badges25 bronze badges
edited Jul 7 at 7:32
badjohn
asked Jul 6 at 15:15
badjohnbadjohn
2,3937 silver badges25 bronze badges
asked Jul 6 at 15:15
badjohnbadjohn
2,3937 silver badges25 bronze badges
asked Jul 6 at 15:15
badjohnbadjohn
2,3937 silver badges25 bronze badges
2,3937 silver badges25 bronze badges
add a comment |
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
In this case, your intuition is correct: when the bass clarinet is written in the bass clef, it now only transposes by a major second instead of by a major ninth.
Transposing by a major ninth (i.e., written in treble clef) is far more common so as to allow the player to use the same fingerings as they do when playing the standard clarinet. But this bass-clef notation does occasionally appear.
But buckle up.
To make matters more confusing, the transposition level isn't fully standardized when the score briefly changes to treble clef. In the German style, the treble-clef notation is still only transposed by a major second. In the Russian style, however, treble-clef notation reverts to the standard major-ninth transposition.
Confused yet? But it gets even better: some Italian scores write the bass clarinet in bass clef but continue to transpose it by a major ninth (!).
In practice, it's best to remember the four traditions of bass-clarinet notation:
- The standard (French) style, always written in treble clef transposed by major ninth;
- the German style, in which all is transposed by major second;
- the Russian style, in which treble-clef notation transposes by major ninth but bass-clef notation transposes by major second;
- and the Italian style, in which all is transposed by major ninth (treble clef and bass clef).
answered Jul 6 at 15:30
RichardRichard
49.7k8 gold badges124 silver badges213 bronze badges
Thanks. This is the first time that I have noticed the bass clarinet written in the bass clef. I would have been less puzzled if it was consistently so. The switch for just a few bars seemed odd.
– badjohn
Jul 6 at 15:38
Did I interpret the instrumentation correctly? We need 5 players and 10 instruments?
– badjohn
Jul 6 at 15:39
1
@badjohn That I admit I'm less clear on. It's definitely five players, but the number of instruments may change if the performers choose to transpose the parts themselves and play on only one instrument.
– Richard
Jul 6 at 15:41
Thanks for the enhanced answer. As you would expect, your style 3 appears to be correct for this piece. I was listening to it while following the score. What's the difference between 1 and 4?
– badjohn
Jul 6 at 15:42
1
@badjohn Good call, I was unclear, and I've now edited it: the French style only uses the treble clef, but the Italian style uses both treble and bass.
– Richard
Jul 6 at 15:44
|
show 9 more comments
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function()
var channelOptions =
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "240"
;
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
createEditor();
);
else
createEditor();
);
function createEditor()
StackExchange.prepareEditor(
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader:
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
,
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
);
);
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmusic.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f86545%2fbass-clarinet-notation-in-the-rite-of-spring-and-other-pieces%23new-answer', 'question_page');
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
In this case, your intuition is correct: when the bass clarinet is written in the bass clef, it now only transposes by a major second instead of by a major ninth.
Transposing by a major ninth (i.e., written in treble clef) is far more common so as to allow the player to use the same fingerings as they do when playing the standard clarinet. But this bass-clef notation does occasionally appear.
But buckle up.
To make matters more confusing, the transposition level isn't fully standardized when the score briefly changes to treble clef. In the German style, the treble-clef notation is still only transposed by a major second. In the Russian style, however, treble-clef notation reverts to the standard major-ninth transposition.
Confused yet? But it gets even better: some Italian scores write the bass clarinet in bass clef but continue to transpose it by a major ninth (!).
In practice, it's best to remember the four traditions of bass-clarinet notation:
- The standard (French) style, always written in treble clef transposed by major ninth;
- the German style, in which all is transposed by major second;
- the Russian style, in which treble-clef notation transposes by major ninth but bass-clef notation transposes by major second;
- and the Italian style, in which all is transposed by major ninth (treble clef and bass clef).
answered Jul 6 at 15:30
RichardRichard
49.7k8 gold badges124 silver badges213 bronze badges
Thanks. This is the first time that I have noticed the bass clarinet written in the bass clef. I would have been less puzzled if it was consistently so. The switch for just a few bars seemed odd.
– badjohn
Jul 6 at 15:38
Did I interpret the instrumentation correctly? We need 5 players and 10 instruments?
– badjohn
Jul 6 at 15:39
1
@badjohn That I admit I'm less clear on. It's definitely five players, but the number of instruments may change if the performers choose to transpose the parts themselves and play on only one instrument.
– Richard
Jul 6 at 15:41
Thanks for the enhanced answer. As you would expect, your style 3 appears to be correct for this piece. I was listening to it while following the score. What's the difference between 1 and 4?
– badjohn
Jul 6 at 15:42
1
@badjohn Good call, I was unclear, and I've now edited it: the French style only uses the treble clef, but the Italian style uses both treble and bass.
– Richard
Jul 6 at 15:44
|
show 9 more comments
In this case, your intuition is correct: when the bass clarinet is written in the bass clef, it now only transposes by a major second instead of by a major ninth.
Transposing by a major ninth (i.e., written in treble clef) is far more common so as to allow the player to use the same fingerings as they do when playing the standard clarinet. But this bass-clef notation does occasionally appear.
But buckle up.
To make matters more confusing, the transposition level isn't fully standardized when the score briefly changes to treble clef. In the German style, the treble-clef notation is still only transposed by a major second. In the Russian style, however, treble-clef notation reverts to the standard major-ninth transposition.
Confused yet? But it gets even better: some Italian scores write the bass clarinet in bass clef but continue to transpose it by a major ninth (!).
In practice, it's best to remember the four traditions of bass-clarinet notation:
- The standard (French) style, always written in treble clef transposed by major ninth;
- the German style, in which all is transposed by major second;
- the Russian style, in which treble-clef notation transposes by major ninth but bass-clef notation transposes by major second;
- and the Italian style, in which all is transposed by major ninth (treble clef and bass clef).
answered Jul 6 at 15:30
RichardRichard
49.7k8 gold badges124 silver badges213 bronze badges
Thanks. This is the first time that I have noticed the bass clarinet written in the bass clef. I would have been less puzzled if it was consistently so. The switch for just a few bars seemed odd.
– badjohn
Jul 6 at 15:38
Did I interpret the instrumentation correctly? We need 5 players and 10 instruments?
– badjohn
Jul 6 at 15:39
1
@badjohn That I admit I'm less clear on. It's definitely five players, but the number of instruments may change if the performers choose to transpose the parts themselves and play on only one instrument.
– Richard
Jul 6 at 15:41
Thanks for the enhanced answer. As you would expect, your style 3 appears to be correct for this piece. I was listening to it while following the score. What's the difference between 1 and 4?
– badjohn
Jul 6 at 15:42
1
@badjohn Good call, I was unclear, and I've now edited it: the French style only uses the treble clef, but the Italian style uses both treble and bass.
– Richard
Jul 6 at 15:44
|
show 9 more comments
In this case, your intuition is correct: when the bass clarinet is written in the bass clef, it now only transposes by a major second instead of by a major ninth.
Transposing by a major ninth (i.e., written in treble clef) is far more common so as to allow the player to use the same fingerings as they do when playing the standard clarinet. But this bass-clef notation does occasionally appear.
But buckle up.
To make matters more confusing, the transposition level isn't fully standardized when the score briefly changes to treble clef. In the German style, the treble-clef notation is still only transposed by a major second. In the Russian style, however, treble-clef notation reverts to the standard major-ninth transposition.
Confused yet? But it gets even better: some Italian scores write the bass clarinet in bass clef but continue to transpose it by a major ninth (!).
In practice, it's best to remember the four traditions of bass-clarinet notation:
- The standard (French) style, always written in treble clef transposed by major ninth;
- the German style, in which all is transposed by major second;
- the Russian style, in which treble-clef notation transposes by major ninth but bass-clef notation transposes by major second;
- and the Italian style, in which all is transposed by major ninth (treble clef and bass clef).
answered Jul 6 at 15:30
RichardRichard
49.7k8 gold badges124 silver badges213 bronze badges
In this case, your intuition is correct: when the bass clarinet is written in the bass clef, it now only transposes by a major second instead of by a major ninth.
Transposing by a major ninth (i.e., written in treble clef) is far more common so as to allow the player to use the same fingerings as they do when playing the standard clarinet. But this bass-clef notation does occasionally appear.
But buckle up.
To make matters more confusing, the transposition level isn't fully standardized when the score briefly changes to treble clef. In the German style, the treble-clef notation is still only transposed by a major second. In the Russian style, however, treble-clef notation reverts to the standard major-ninth transposition.
Confused yet? But it gets even better: some Italian scores write the bass clarinet in bass clef but continue to transpose it by a major ninth (!).
In practice, it's best to remember the four traditions of bass-clarinet notation:
- The standard (French) style, always written in treble clef transposed by major ninth;
- the German style, in which all is transposed by major second;
- the Russian style, in which treble-clef notation transposes by major ninth but bass-clef notation transposes by major second;
- and the Italian style, in which all is transposed by major ninth (treble clef and bass clef).
answered Jul 6 at 15:30
RichardRichard
49.7k8 gold badges124 silver badges213 bronze badges
edited Jul 6 at 15:42
answered Jul 6 at 15:30
RichardRichard
49.7k8 gold badges124 silver badges213 bronze badges
answered Jul 6 at 15:30
RichardRichard
49.7k8 gold badges124 silver badges213 bronze badges
answered Jul 6 at 15:30
RichardRichard
49.7k8 gold badges124 silver badges213 bronze badges
49.7k8 gold badges124 silver badges213 bronze badges
Thanks. This is the first time that I have noticed the bass clarinet written in the bass clef. I would have been less puzzled if it was consistently so. The switch for just a few bars seemed odd.
– badjohn
Jul 6 at 15:38
Did I interpret the instrumentation correctly? We need 5 players and 10 instruments?
– badjohn
Jul 6 at 15:39
1
@badjohn That I admit I'm less clear on. It's definitely five players, but the number of instruments may change if the performers choose to transpose the parts themselves and play on only one instrument.
– Richard
Jul 6 at 15:41
Thanks for the enhanced answer. As you would expect, your style 3 appears to be correct for this piece. I was listening to it while following the score. What's the difference between 1 and 4?
– badjohn
Jul 6 at 15:42
1
@badjohn Good call, I was unclear, and I've now edited it: the French style only uses the treble clef, but the Italian style uses both treble and bass.
– Richard
Jul 6 at 15:44
|
show 9 more comments
Thanks. This is the first time that I have noticed the bass clarinet written in the bass clef. I would have been less puzzled if it was consistently so. The switch for just a few bars seemed odd.
– badjohn
Jul 6 at 15:38
Did I interpret the instrumentation correctly? We need 5 players and 10 instruments?
– badjohn
Jul 6 at 15:39
1
@badjohn That I admit I'm less clear on. It's definitely five players, but the number of instruments may change if the performers choose to transpose the parts themselves and play on only one instrument.
– Richard
Jul 6 at 15:41
Thanks for the enhanced answer. As you would expect, your style 3 appears to be correct for this piece. I was listening to it while following the score. What's the difference between 1 and 4?
– badjohn
Jul 6 at 15:42
1
@badjohn Good call, I was unclear, and I've now edited it: the French style only uses the treble clef, but the Italian style uses both treble and bass.
– Richard
Jul 6 at 15:44
Thanks. This is the first time that I have noticed the bass clarinet written in the bass clef. I would have been less puzzled if it was consistently so. The switch for just a few bars seemed odd.
– badjohn
Jul 6 at 15:38
Thanks. This is the first time that I have noticed the bass clarinet written in the bass clef. I would have been less puzzled if it was consistently so. The switch for just a few bars seemed odd.
– badjohn
Jul 6 at 15:38
Did I interpret the instrumentation correctly? We need 5 players and 10 instruments?
– badjohn
Jul 6 at 15:39
Did I interpret the instrumentation correctly? We need 5 players and 10 instruments?
– badjohn
Jul 6 at 15:39
1
1
@badjohn That I admit I'm less clear on. It's definitely five players, but the number of instruments may change if the performers choose to transpose the parts themselves and play on only one instrument.
– Richard
Jul 6 at 15:41
@badjohn That I admit I'm less clear on. It's definitely five players, but the number of instruments may change if the performers choose to transpose the parts themselves and play on only one instrument.
– Richard
Jul 6 at 15:41
Thanks for the enhanced answer. As you would expect, your style 3 appears to be correct for this piece. I was listening to it while following the score. What's the difference between 1 and 4?
– badjohn
Jul 6 at 15:42
Thanks for the enhanced answer. As you would expect, your style 3 appears to be correct for this piece. I was listening to it while following the score. What's the difference between 1 and 4?
– badjohn
Jul 6 at 15:42
1
1
@badjohn Good call, I was unclear, and I've now edited it: the French style only uses the treble clef, but the Italian style uses both treble and bass.
– Richard
Jul 6 at 15:44
@badjohn Good call, I was unclear, and I've now edited it: the French style only uses the treble clef, but the Italian style uses both treble and bass.
– Richard
Jul 6 at 15:44
|
show 9 more comments
Thanks for contributing an answer to Music: Practice & Theory Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmusic.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f86545%2fbass-clarinet-notation-in-the-rite-of-spring-and-other-pieces%23new-answer', 'question_page');
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
