camelbrass

Great story Manny. It's amazing how many pieces you sight read and half way through the lick you think 'Clarke 2'..I know this.

I'm your typical amateur Bb player that until the last couple of years didn't see the need to transpose. Then I joined the local chamber orchestra and, although the first couple of pieces were gentle (Mozart and Beethoven), decided to start working on transpositions (at 49!!). I've just built them into my daily practice...I pick a piece, doesn't need to be anything special, and read it in a different key. Started out with easy melodic pieces up a tone and progressed from there.

It's now becoming much more comfortable. In fact I recently had to do a Bernstein evening and one of the scores (Trouble in Tahiti) was written for C. We had 3 rehearsals and was confident enough to do on Bb..even though I had a C with me. Similarly I have Carmina Burana next month and doing it all on Bb (not a difficult transposition though it's a tough blow..on anything!! One of the most confusing pieces I've ever had to read, very conductor centric). My C gets regular work in the chamber orchestra regardless of the key...it just sounds better.

Thanks for those stories.


Regards,


Trevor