TromboneChat

Is there an easy was to transpose a horn part into bass, tenor or alto cleff? One of the easter parts is a horn part. Does that mean I get doubling?

Mezzo soprano clef (one down from alto) and add 1 flat. Saying that and being able to do it are two different things. I can't read it at tempo, but I know what to do should I get a long string of whole notes.

Since I've been a brass teacher on all brass I had to play french horn parts. Eb parts is easy, just add three flats and a bass clef and then play an octave up just as if you had to play a baritone sax part. Transposing an F-horn part is a different issue. I just played those F-horn parts together with my students for many, many years. You have to transpose a ninth up if you look at the f-horn part as if it were written in bass clef. If you see an C (could be looked upon as an Eb in bass clef) you have to play an F. I don't know if there is a shortcut to this, I just did that transposing a lot, up to a point lt is no more a problem. If you have to, then just practice f-horn parts.

/Tom

imsevimse wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 1:04 pm Since I've been a brass teacher on all brass I had to play french horn parts. Eb parts is easy, just add three flats and a bass clef and then play an octave up just as if you had to play a baritone sax part. Transposing an F-horn part is a different issue. I just played those F-horn parts togeather with my students for many, many years. You have to transpose a septime up if you look at tge f-horn part as a bass clef. If you see an C you have to play an F. I don't know if there is a shortcut go this, I just did that a lot, up to a poinf lt t is no more a problem. If you have to, then just practice.
/Tom

Remember, we are talking Horn in F. Orchestral horn parts can be in various keys, and change without much warning. There is a joke transcription of Happy Birthday with all the same note and changing horn keys.

I learned to use the Mezzo-Soprano clef, where the movable C is on the 2nd line from the bottom (G line in treble or B line in bass). Spend a little time reading this and it gets easy. Big problem is when they switch to bass clef. I can't even get a straight answer from horn players which note to play

Some have learned to transpose by intervals. If that works for you, go for it. When I was a kid I was taught transposition by clef, so mezzo-soprano clef was only marginally more difficult than alto or tenor.

A trick a friend of mine used to play alto clef parts when he was more comfortable on tenor: he'd make a photocopy of the part, white-out the top line, and draw in a line below. Now the part appears to be in tenor clef. Similarly for the horn part: white-out the top line and draw a line below the staff. Now the notes appear to be in alto clef.

I would also use "benchmark" notes. 2nd line of the staff is C above the bass clef. Top line of the staff is Bb 4 lines above the bass clef, One line below the staff is F in the bass clef.

I think of it similarly to reading treble clef concert pitch on a Bb instrument, layered on top of the easy method of reading Eb treble clef parts.

Stage 1 to read like with a treble clef Eb part as mentioned in an earlier post is more or less automatic with no thought. Stage two is to move up one tone. Once you get used to it, it‘s not really any harder than reading treble clef C on a Bb instrument, takes a bit to get used to but not too tricky with practice.

bubba7753 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 12:06 pm Is there an easy was to transpose a horn part into bass, tenor or alto cleff? One of the easter parts is a horn part. Does that mean I get doubling?

Doubling? No. More work? Yes.

Any of the methods above work. Like any skill, it has to be practiced. If you’ve never done it before and you have a gig coming up, you might consider writing the part out to decrease the possibility of screwing up. More work? Yes. A little more peace of mind? Yes.

I do the opposite. Probably once a month I play the French horn off of the keyboard/guitar chord chart for improvising. The easiest way for me is knowing how to play a true actual notes on the French horn. I’ve played French horn with horn music where the written C is a true F, and am ok with that, same basics as trumpet with minor fingering differences. When playing the horn I just mentally think true Bb, A, D, or whatever notes are working for the song. It works for me. When playing trumpet, starting off of the chord sheet, which is too often, I just think in bass clef, since I don’t own a C trumpet. When my daughter was just learning French horn, I didn’t have a horn then, so transposed in my head and played along on my trumpet, again thinking in bass clef knowing when I wanted to play a true F or whatever the music was…Disclaimer: we’re talking Breeze Easy book music here though. Either way after 2 practices it was easy for me to do.