When creating a full score in concert pitch, always use bass clef on bass clarinet staves for the conductor’s convenience (while of course issuing a transposed part in treble clef). Never use 8vb treble clef or tenor clef. Some exceptions may apply for very high notes, but rarely require concert pitch treble clef.
Before launching into this tip, as I know that misunderstandings often arise from a careless reading, allow me to point out that I’m exclusively referring to the special situation of concert pitch full scores only – not to the more commonly-used transposing scores in concert music/opera situations. I myself prefer the latter, and do most of my work transposing. And of course the instrument parts should always be transposing. But as concert pitch scores, or “scores in C” are becoming ever more prevalent in recording sessions (especially for film music), I’m seeing a variety of different approaches for scoring bass clarinet parts in full score. Hence this cautionary essay.
A year or two ago, a question popped up in the Orchestration Online Facebook group regarding the use of bass clarinet doubling at the octave below a bassoon melody – an intriguing and very effective combination (as explored above in the chapter Low Woodwind Octaves). The screenshot from their work-in-progress looked something very much like this:
While the composer of the post received some useful feedback on the textural aspects of the combination, misunderstandings and contention arose over the use of the 8vb treble clef (ottavabassa treble, described sometimes as “treble down 8”). It was pointed out that its use was both non-standard and possibly confusing to the score-reader. Further investigation has revealed, at the time of this post’s release, that it represents a MuseScore default when scoring bass clarinet in concert pitch. So the result is that an application with the potential to become the most widely-used in the coming decade carries within it a convention which might well sabotage the efforts of its users – especially in the field of film scoring, for which concert pitch full score is the standard.
Of course, this approach was probably implemented with the best of intentions. The 8vb treble clef, which covers the pitches an octave below the standard treble clef range, is now the standard signifier for tenor vocal scoring – so in itself, it’s certainly not unusual in the slightest. Furthermore, I can see the rationale of supplying a clef which is only a whole step in difference between the concert pitches it displays, and the written pitches in a bass clarinet part which sound an octave + a major 2nd lower.
However, such theoretical conveniences almost completely disregard the practical realities of rehearsals and recording sessions, where every second is a precious commodity; and any danger, however slight, of misapprehension on the part of the customarily overworked conductor can waste hundreds of dollars per minute. There is a reason why bass clef on the concert pitch full score bass clarinet staff is the standard: it removes any doubt whatsoever in the mind of the conductor about the instrument’s role and relationship to other parts. When our example above is rescored to this standard, its functions are crystal clear at a glance for even a less experienced score-reader.
Compared to this perfectly readable, lightning-fast-to-comprehend standard, the use of 8vb clef immediately shows its weaknesses. First, in that most experienced conductors will naturally be expecting to read bass clef – and if they’re in an enormous rush with little-to-no preparation time (as is often the case), then such bass clarinet scoring may seem unclear. Seeing a treble clef instead of a bass clef may lead to the notion that the part is transposed rather than concert pitch. Then on closer inspection, the realisation that they’re being asked to read it as if it were a tenor vocal part may earn you a snort and a side-eye at the very least. Seriously – do not make any aspect of your conductor’s job any more complex than it absolutely has to be, if you want to get the best out of them.
So let’s say that you’ve decided to heed my advice, and set up your concert pitch full score with the bass clarinet staff in bass clef. Well and good. But how will it show up in the instrument part now? In an application like Sibelius, using the standard B♭ clarinet instrument setting, the transposed instrument part will appear as shown below: still in bass clef, showing what pitches at in their written positions would make perfect sense in treble clef. And yet this will make no sense whatsoever to a seasoned bass clarinetist, who processes the presence of a bass clef as the German system of notation, in which pitches will sound merely a whole step lower rather than a major 9th. The result would be a performance in which the notes were played an octave higher than intended. And of course, all this aside, players will object to any contemporary parts written in bass clef, as the German system is understood to be restricted to historical works – and if the orchestra librarian catches your usage, you’ll be asked to fix up your part and send it back with the standard treble clef assignation.
Sibelius’ developers long ago came up with a solution: an instrument setting called “Bass Clarinet in Bb [bass clef, treble transp.].” This formats the concert pitch full score bass clarinet staff in bass clef, reading in C as with all other instruments on the page; but shows as a transposed instrument in treble clef when viewed as a dynamic part. So the composer can sketch, edit, and finalise their bass clarinet staff in concert pitch to their heart’s content, knowing that the part will appear readable to the player.
Once we reformat Example 2’s bass clarinet part to Sibelius’ “bass clef, treble transp.” setting, then the results appear as below in the dynamic part. Interestingly, this is all written a whole step higher than how it appeared with an 8vb treble staff in Example 1.
A quick review of my concert pitch bass clarinet diagram from Chapter 22 of 100 MORE Orchestration chart reveals the enormous 4-octave range of the bass clarinet. If composers can simply memorise its registers, it will go a long way towards composing in a more natural voice for the instrument. The choice is a nearly two-octave fundamental register, from a low sounding B♭1 all the way up to A♭3. The last four semitones of this register are technically throat tones, from sounding F3 to the aforementioned A♭3; which may lack some of the richness of the rest of the low register, but will not sound as pale as the same throat tones on a standard B♭ clarinet, due to a longer bore length between tone holes and mouthpiece. But all these technicalities aside, the concert pitch composer should fix this basic range of pitches in their mind as being the most choice and individual (not to mention useful) for the instrument – extending the range of the clarinet colour well over an octave lower than the standard instrument’s lowest notes. The clarino register above that is also well-defined by the parameters of the concert pitch staff layout; from A3 at the top of the bass clef up to E♭5 at the top of the treble staff. Then E5 up to B♭5 covers the altissimo register – though any note above a sounding G5 (written A6) would be considered extraordinary, and customarily out-of-range for any but specialist players.
The question then becomes, how does the composer score high notes for concert bass clarinet? The first question, that of using tenor clef, should be immediately and roundly quashed – as it will just create more confusion in the mind of the overworked conductor, who may mistake it at a glance for a bassoon part. Looking over film scores, you’ll quickly see that high bass clarinet passages are usually scored as ledger lines above the staff; at least up to A4 or B♭4. This kind of high ledger line writing is certainly not uncommon in some trombone and bassoon scoring, even in contrabassoon and double bass.
What happens from here upwards, ranging over the top octave of the bass clarinet, is conditional on a lot of factors. First, one must ask whether such pitches are at all necessary in light of the far more stable and rich sounding equivalent notes available on the standard B♭ clarinet. Then, supposing that the composer is well aware of the unique character of upper clarino-to-altissimo bass clarinet notes, and really has some overriding reason to score them, the next question becomes whether they can count on a player who specialises in contemporary repertoire that keeps this part of their range in good working order. The average section player may not have the chops of a student of Harry Sparnaay. And even with top players such as one might expect in a pro film recording situation or with world-class symphony players, there still may be a question of how satisfactory such scoring may sound in reality as compared to the mind of the composer (and the deceptive ease with which their sound set produced those high pitches).
But let’s say that you’ve factored in all such concerns, and you’ve justified the necessity of including passages of extremely high bass clarinet notes in your concert pitch score. Our last concern to sort is how to make them intelligible to the conductor. Probably in a film session situation, the use of treble clef will be taken at face value to mean concert pitch just as the bass clef will be. The same will be true in a concert music situation; but there’s a shadow of uncertainty that crosses my mind should your ultra-high passage actually start on the first page of full score with a treble clef. In that case, at least in a concert situation, I might have a bass clef at the start, followed by an inserted treble clef before the first note to be played; or just mark a reminder for the conductor that the bass clarinet staff is in concert pitch – so there can be no mistaking the part for transposing due to the presence of a treble clef. And even then, be ready at the rehearsal to quickly jump in with a reminder of such if needed, because in these special situations you really have no way of knowing what might happen even with the most helpful of reminders.
