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Here is my predicament, I play an EEb tuba in a chamber group with a bunch of woodwind and a few string players. It is great fun and has improved my ensemble playing and listening skills immensly(you have to feel sorry for all those composers who didn't have the chance to write for the tuba). anyway, I usually end up playing a bass/cello line or a bassoon part, taking the occaisional liberty with octaves - which is great until the line changes from bass clef to tenor clef. So, any advice out there on playiing a tenor clef line on an Eb instrument?

Presumably you mean the Tenor C clef with C on the middle line. Hmm, never tried it, but back when I learned trumpet, we often had to read piano music and transpose up a whole tone on the fly. After a while, that became second nature.

Now theoretically all you would have to do is pretend it is bass clef (or treble clef with proper number of sharps, depending on which you prefer) and transpose down a whole tone. Maybe that too, would be easy after a while.

For me, just learning to read the clef was the easiest.

I regularly switch between CC, EEb, F and bass trombone. Mostly in bass clef, but I do a lot of church gigs, so being able to play multiple clefs comes in very handy.

I've spent a lot of time playing bass/treble clef on my tubas.....trumpet and horn books. So tenor clef was an easy one to pick up.

No easy way to do it. But I found just doing it wasn't all that tough.

Cheers,
Josh

Yes, tenor clef is like Bb treble clef... with a change in key signature and accidentals. So, if you were playing on a BBb tuba (or Bb euphonium) it would be "easy." However, on an Eb tuba... that would be not be like playing a trumpet.

Assuming you read bass clef on Eb tuba like you are playing trumpet (which is what I would do)... you need to shift everything down a fourth.

The nice thing about tenor clef is that notes on lines are still on lines, and notes on spaces are still on spaces. This is the easiest kind of transposition to learn (as opposed to, say learning to read Db piccolo parts). Try using your mind's eye to visualize that second-from-the-top line as being one ledger above the bass staff.

tubaeuph wrote:Either learn tenor clef (its really easy and should take about a week or two)

What he said.

You can get lots of practice material by going to http://www.imslp.org/wiki/Category:Bach ... _Sebastian and download some Bach cantatas, masses, oratoria etc. These are scans from the 19th century complete Bach edition and the tenor parts are written in... tenor clef. Start with reading some easy chorales, and once you get the hang of it move on to some of the harder stuff.

Leisesturm wrote:So I too am ready to confront my tenor clef issues but the posts alluding to how 'easy' it is to learn it don't actually tell us 'how' to do it. I don't actually remember how I learned treble and bass clef since I did it as a young child. How should an adult go about learning a new clef? Tnx.

Everyone's different, it seems. The only way that I know of is to read a lot of whatever you're trying to read. You can also toss in alto clef, as learning two new things at the same time seems to require only a little more effort than learning one new thing. Keep at it as a regular part of your practice and it'll come pretty easily.

That "keeping at it" can be a problem for some of the more arcane things. Once I get going, I can transcribe from clarinet in A to horn in F or trumpet in Bb or alto flute in G without thinking about it. But if I leave too much time go between the mental exercise, it starts to get difficult.

I just started giving music-reading lessons to an adult beginner. She was trepidatious (if that's a word) but it only took about ten minutes for her to get the idea of how to go about it, which is what I assume your question was.

We started with flash cards with just a few notes (one per card,) and she had to name the notes as I flashed the cards. We did this until she was not having to think about the names, that is, she had them memorized. Then, on just these same few notes (open strings on a bass guitar) we did the same thing, only she played them instead of naming them. Once again, until she was quick at it and didn't have to think about it.

Then you go from there. When I learn a new clef (the last one was Bb for euphonium brass band parts) I make a point of doing a lot of sight-reading, because that prevents me from memorizing the music and forces me to read the clef. As you go along, include more complex key signatures.

Good luck. I find that it takes me a couple of months to get really competent (i.e., able to sight read the clef as well as I do, for example, bass clef,) but at 57 I'm starting to slow down a little. If you're still somewhat young it will probably go faster than that.

MA

[quote="MaryAnn"]I just started giving music-reading lessons to an adult beginner. She was trepidatious (if that's a word) but it only took about ten minutes for her to get the idea of how to go about it, which is what I assume your question was.

Good luck. I find that it takes me a couple of months to get really competent (i.e., able to sight read the clef as well as I do, for example, bass clef,) but at 57 I'm starting to slow down a little. If you're still somewhat young it will probably go faster than that.

trepidatious is a great word.

thanks for all the suggestions, I am finding that it is taking time to learn, but I am getting there.

Peter

It needn't be a burden for you if you have friends willing to participate.

When we have a member that's out for the weekly practice, our quintet will have "smoke coming out of the ears" reading sessions where almost everybody has to read an instrumental part that requires transposition or a new skill. Like the Bb trumpets having to read C trumpet parts, the horn reading trombone parts and the tuba reading horn parts.

There are trombone ensemble works that nvolve both tenor and alto clefs, for example.

It makes for lots of clams of course but is terrific fun and everyone comes out at the end of a session reading a bit better.