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Greetings,

I'm sure we're all aware of the "trick" of playing an Eb tuba by pretending the bass clef is treble clef and using trumpet fingerings. Is there a trick in reverse? a.k.a. Is there a way to read trumpet/clarinet/tenor sax music with an Eb tuba and having it come out as concert pitch without just doing all the transposing? I've been trying to come up with one and my brain doesn't seem to wrap itself around it.

I'm a school band teacher and it's pretty easy to use a BBb tuba and play along (read alto music as bass clef, read trumpet music and use trumpet fingerings, etc.). It would just be much more portable to use a small Eb.

I mostly just play along for fun at times in small group lessons and things. Thanks!

While my vision worked well I could do just about any transposition because of two other instruments I had played:

horn, which helps with the smaller steps like seconds and thirds

recorders, where C as well as F instruments play from concert notation loco and octave up in treble and bass clefs plus French violin clef, which is similar to reading bass clef with 3 sharps added. This all helps juggling fourths, fifths, and octaves.

Some players read the black and move the notes a given interval by means of their ears. My transposition happened in the vision/reading phase, as I moved the notes to where they should have been, if written for the instrument I actually played.

This may have come from my primary motivation to learn transposition: laziness.

I started writing out transpositions, which is time consuming, so I soon realised that I could bypass the rewrite by doing it mentally on the fly.

My approach may sound non-musical, but usage of ears and sense of time and of ensemble all still apply. And knowing ones scales all the way around the circle of fifths still is necessary to decode the logic of what is going on musically.

On bassbone I often read from parts for Eb tuba or for baritone saxophone, both in treble clef Eb. The only time I had to give up on a book of parts was when I couldn’t go on a foreign band tour. I was subbed by a baritone sax player, who had, inconsistently, changed the accidentals from bass clef concert to Eb treble clef. There I asked for a clean set of copies.

Klaus

I couldn't transpose squat until I had 5th grade band students on flute and clarinet, and I was better on the alto sax than the other two. A mixed group lesson had me moving among the kids reading whatever book was closest. I don't know if there's a trick besides practicing it. I am a little better now but not what you would call great.

Playing guitar I learned to analyze on the fly. I am passably good at that, and it lead to being a decent transposer as a side effect.

We trombone players use the tenor clef trick when confronted with Bb treble clef parts. If you aren't comfortable with tenor clef already, then I got nothing for you. But if you are, then you add 2 flats and you're good to go. Just use your standard concert pitch tuba fingerings (for whatever pitched horn you're using) and read it as tenor clef.

The way for a tuba player to read Eb treble clef is to read it as it were in bass clef and add 3 flats to the key signature. Example: Eb treble clef part with no key signature (C in Eb treble). Pretend it's in bass clef, add 3 flats, and you are in concert pitch. The low C (first line below the staff) in Eb treble becomes an Eb...the G (second line from the bottom) becomes a concert Bb...etc. It doesn't matter what key of tuba that you are playing. I did this playing an Eb brass band tuba part on an F-tuba. The accidentals can be hairy, but it is easy with a bit of practice.

Playing Bb treble clef parts on an F-tuba in concert pitch is much more challenging.

Cheers,
Dan Bradley

The answer to the OP question is no, there is no easy way to play Bb trumpet music on an Eb instrument without a major transposing effort.

If you have no eye problems, it might be worth a shot trying my method of moving up the notes a fifth in the reading phase. It is one of the easier transpositions, as the move is two lines or two spaces up. You have to be fully aware of the key in advance and be able to play its scale with no hesitation in any octave of your instrument. Should be manageable with young player’s repertory. A preparatory run through of all parts will not count as cheating.

Klaus

Thanks bloke! That's the kind of thing I was going for. I haven't played much F tuba, but that gives me a place to start. Now what do you do with the key signature?

Tubajug wrote:Thanks bloke! That's the kind of thing I was going for. I haven't played much F tuba, but that gives me a place to start. Now what do you do with the key signature?

Using bloke's method described above should not require any alteration of the key signature. (You are already taking care of that step by using F fingerings on the Eb.)

Great! Thanks folks!

If you read by concert pitch instead of by fingering sets, you can play any clef on any instrument.

MaryAnn wrote:If you read by concert pitch instead of by fingering sets, you can play any clef on any instrument.

Yes, and thinking this way when playing the instrument will cause your brain to "learn" it, subconsciously.

I was down at Baltimore Brass last weekend, trying out a King 2341, and while I sounded like total crap, I was able to think of the valves in terms of how much they changed the pitch, and figure it out from there. The best way to learn is to work at it, and play, IMHO.

Trombone players can learn tenor clef really fast if you just put a bunch of music in front of them and tell them to play it.

That's easy?

Quoting a famous Ed Sullivan guest, "For you, easy, for me, deeficult!"