My way around this for reading Bb treble parts is to read it like tenor clef (remember, I'm also a trombone player) and add two flats to the key signature. Why on earth, when a piano player is playing a Bb, a trombone player is playing a Bb, a flute player is playing a Bb (and all three players are playing the same pitch) would a Bb trumpet or a treble clef reading euphonium have to play a written "C" in the treble clef to play the same absolute pitch? I know there are historical reasons behind it, but it drives a doubler crazy!Ĭoming from the bass clef dominated trombone playing world where I'm used to playing concert pitch, this paradox is too much for my feeble brain. I've understood everything what Dave has said about the conventions and I read both treble and bass clef (well not, quite, more on that below) when playing euphonium, but the logic reasoning convention behind it still baffles me. If you learn on bass clef music, your teacher will point to a B-flat on the 2nd line and say, "Play that note and don't use any valves." If you start learning from a treble clef book, your teacher will point to the C on the first ledger line below the staff and say, "Play that note and don't use any valves." Usually when you learn to play, the first note you produce is an octave below the tuning note mentioned above. In either case, the note you play on the euphonium will sound as a B-flat. Your tuning note in treble clef is written as a 3rd line C. A bass clef player would call it a B-flat. Your standard tuning note in bass clef is a written B-flat on the space above the staff. But when the band director is talking to you about notes, euphonium is treated as a C instrument when the music is written in bass clef and as a B-flat instrument when it is written in treble clef.Ĭomparing treble clef euphonium music to bass clef euphonium music, the MUSIC NOTES are transposed for convenience in the treble clef part. So when you tune with a piano, the piano plays a B-flat and you play your tuning note with no valves pushed down. Euphoniums or a baritones are B-flat instruments. If it were, trumpets would still be in built B-flat, even though they play in C. Trumpet music could just as easily be written this way (in concert pitch). While doing this they are playing in C on a B-flat instrument. Trumpet players usually learn to read from a piano score, where they will mentally transpose up a full step. So in brass band music, a player can play with the same fingerings on E-flat cornet, B-flat cornet, E-flat alto, baritone horn, euphonium, EE-flat tuba, or BB-flat tuba. 2) Euphonium is part of the brass band tradition, where all the instruments except bass trombone are written in transposed treble clef. Treble clef music made the switch easy because all the fingerings are the same as trumpet. Euphonium music in treble clef is written in the same octave and transposition as bass clarinet and tenor saxophone music.Įuphonium music written this way might have come about for one or both of the following reasons: 1) some euphonium players (me included) started as trumpet players and were switched to euphonium. So a B-flat below middle C on the piano (just below the first ledger below the treble clef staff) is written as a 3rd-space C in treble clef. It is transposed so that the open note is a C, but in this case it is also moved by an octave to avoid too many ledger lines. The only difference is the way the music is printed, not in the horn itself. The other way of writing euphonium music is in transposed treble clef. But the player will produce a concert B-flat when playing an open note. Euphonium music can be written in bass clef, and in that case it will sound in concert pitch in the correct octave. The trombone is made in B-flat but players are taught to read the music so they will be playing concert pitch.Ī euphonium is in the same key as a trombone and in the same octave. So when a trombonist plays a written B-flat, it will come out as a B-flat in the correct octave. However, for trombone the music remains in concert pitch and is usually in bass clef. A true B-flat is written as a C, and the key is changed accordingly, adding 2 sharps or subtracting 2 flats.Ī trombone's fundamental is also a B-flat. In other words, the music is transposed up one full step. Trumpet music is transposed so that the open fundamental is written as a C. The same is true of trumpet, for example. The lowest natural note that can be played with no valves is a B-flat. The instrument itself it built in the key of B-flat. It is confusing to many people that euphonium (or "baritone") music is written both in B-flat and in C.
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