![]() ![]() Even if you don't play orchestral music, it does pop up many other places. Even then, composers and musicians cringe when really great artists deviate too far from the composer's intent. The music is not really about you, unless you're an actual artist. Why do they do this? So that you can play tenor music that doesn't have 4 or 5 ledger lines above the staff.įour and five sharps are pain enough, why pull the rug out from under you completely? So that the listeners get to hear something other than music in Bb. Is tenor clef common or useful? Yes, and yes Learning is supposed to be good (grumble).Īny tips? Short cuts? Words of encouragement or greater purpose? Is Tenor Clef common or useful? Why do they do this? Four and five sharps are pain enough, why pull the rug out from under you completely? Arghh! I'm not happy with it but I guess I have to learn it. He was nice, but within three words of explanation, I knew I was screwed. I had to ask the fellow next to me what the hell it was. I was surprised opening day of my first day of Trombone Choir. That would be entirely impossible if I needed to associate notes with specific shapes on the page. ![]() It's not uncommon for me to have to read in four different clefs on any given day, sometimes five or even six. You can navigate the system and always know where you are. If you can dissociate your muscle memory and your concept of each note from the fixed position where the notes appear physically on the page, and instead associate them to the more abstract concept of where the notes lie in the entire vertical scale, then it doesn't matter what exotic clef you're suddenly given or how many crazy clef changes you have to do. In other words, the clefs don't tell you where the notes are, they tell you which 5 of the 11 lines you are seeing, and although any given note doesn't have a fixed place on the staff, it does have one single unique place relative to all the other notes, to the three clefs and to the 11 lines. Now when you get a part, the staff focuses only on 5 of those lines, but the rest are still there, just hidden. What we really have is 11 lines, with the C clef on the middle line, the G clef two lines above and the F clef two lines below. Imagine a piano grand staff, plus the middle C line that is in between them. ![]() One conceptual thing that I think makes it easier to master all the clefs and switch between them without too much hesitation (and although it might not be the most helpful to you in the immediate short term, I think it is essential in the long term): Neither the notes nor the lines have moved, it's just that the staff is showing you five different lines than in bass clef. I urge you to avoid the quick-fix solutions/crotches like reading two lines higher (essentially transposing) and to put the effort to actually learn it so it becomes confortable. Stay calm, don't get frustrated by your mistakes, you'll make some and it's okay. It feels impossible at first, but you'll find out it's much easier than it seems, at least if you commit to it. We all panick the first time, it's normal. Tips: sight read a lot of music, take it slow. Yup, it's not just common or useful, it's essential and necessary (unless you only ever play in the few contexts where it is never used). ![]()
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