Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: From Treble clef to Bass clef (Read 18340 times) previous topic - next topic

From Treble clef to Bass clef

I have music in the Treble clef that I want my Cellos to be able to play
How do I transpose it to the bass clef. When I try to transpose it down a full octave,
it won't put it into the bass clef, it just writes the lines below the treble staff. What am I doing wrong?

Re: From Treble clef to Bass clef

Reply #1 –
Just highlight the treble clef sign and change it to the bass clef using Ctrl+E then highlight all the notes and move them up or down en bloc to your desired position using the ctrl+shif+up/down arrow keys. Then change your key signature accordingly. See page 18 of the latest instruction manual under change notes to a new clef or help screens.

Good Luck
Peter

Re: From Treble clef to Bass clef

Reply #2 –
Just highlight the treble clef sign and change it to the bass clef using Ctrl+E then highlight all the notes and move them up or down en bloc to your desired position using the ctrl+shif+up/down arrow keys. Then change your key signature accordingly. See page 18 of the latest instruction manual under change notes to a new clef or help screens.

Good Luck
Peter

Re: From Treble clef to Bass clef

Reply #3 –
It has been my experience, when changing to tenor or alto clef, that the key signature is automaticly corrected when you change the clef.
I will say that I have never checked what happens to later changes to signature, that is whether the adjustment propagates through out the staff.

Cyril N. Alberga

Re: From Treble clef to Bass clef

Reply #4 –
I would like to know what the Treble Clef and Bass Clef is. I want the answer to my quistion.

Re: From Treble clef to Bass clef

Reply #5 –
Treble clef looks like a fancy script "G" and has middle C on the first leger line at the bottom. Bass clef looks sort of like a "9" with two dots and has middle C on the first leger line at the top.

If this doesn't answer your question try Gary Ewer's Easy Music Theory

Re: From Treble clef to Bass clef

Reply #6 –
Well I can read treble cleff, I've been playing clarinet for over 8 years, but now my boyfriend is interested in playing cello and I need to figure out how to read bass clef so I can help him figure it out. How in the world do you read it?!~?!?!

Re: From Treble clef to Bass clef

Reply #7 –
The bass clef was originally a stylized "F" with the two horizontal lines straddling the line assigned to F below middle C. These horizontals evolved into the dots of today's bass clef.

Another way to look at it is that the note on the first ledger line above the bass staff is middle C.

Once you've located one of these pitches, all the other notes can be found by counting up or down the appropriate number of lines and spaces (just as with treble clef). After that, it's just practice, practice, practice.

Re: From Treble clef to Bass clef

Reply #8 –
I took up the tuba a couple of years ago having played nothing but clarinet for about thirty years. After a couple of weeks reading bass clef was no problem.

My starting point was that the middle line is D. Also I remembered the ditties from school All Cows Eat Grass - that's the spaces in ascending order. And the lines in ascending order are remembered by "Good Boys Deserve Fourpence Allways".

Just get some music out and give it a go and don't get discouraged or embarassed by the initial bum notes. As Grant says practice, practice, practice. At least the cello is a bit more neighbour friendly than the tuba!

Then, watch out for the tenor clef in the cello parts!

Stephen

Re: From Treble clef to Bass clef

Reply #9 –
I have been playing flute for about 6 or so years now, and have just started to teach myself piano, but I have a dillema! The bottow part is always written in bass clef, and I have no idea how to transpose it! If there is any one that can tell me how many steps treble and bass are apart, it would be greatly appreciated!
~Lindsey

Re: From Treble clef to Bass clef

Reply #10 –
The question isn't quite clear to me, but here are some guidelines:

1. Middle C is the first ledger line above the bass staff.
2. The C below middle is the second space (counting upwards from the bottom).

A consequence of (1) is that the top line of the bass staff is 4 diatonic steps below the bottom line of the treble staff.

A consequence of (2) is that if you read a note as if it were in treble clef, then shift up a 3rd and down 2 octaves, you'll get the name of the same note in bass clef. For example, the middle line of the treble staff represents B above middle C, but the same line of the bass staff represents D below middle C.

Re: From Treble clef to Bass clef

Reply #11 –
The short answer is to shift up a line (and down 2 octaves). For example, the note on the bottom line of the stave is G, which would be on the second line up if you were using the treble clef.

I still find myself doing this sometimes, despite the fact that I've been singing off the bass clef since my voice broke (more years ago than I care to admit!)

Robin

Re: From Treble clef to Bass clef

Reply #12 –
Another way to look at it is to draw a horizontal line mid way between the two staves. This represents middle C. The space above it is D and the space below it is B and you actually have a continuum from G at the bottom of the Bass Clef to F at the top of the Treble Clef.

Peter

Re: From Treble clef to Bass clef

Reply #13 –
Peter's answer is elegantly simple. A quick way to transpose from one clef to the other is only a couple of steps long. Go to the existing clef, replace it with the desired clef - any key signature will move up or down appropriately. Then highlight the entire section you wish to write in the other clef. Use shift and up arrow 12 times if you want to change a treble clef to bass; use shift and down arrow 12 times to change bass clef to treble. Sorry I don't know anything about alto and tenor clefs...

Re: From Treble clef to Bass clef

Reply #14 –
I have been playing violin for years and am an ace at reading treble clef, but i'm bored with that and am starting to teach myself piano. The right hand treble peice is fine, but i cant seem to remember the notes of bass clef. I know the notes and where they are, but i need to practice seeing it, so i was wondering, are there any websites or software programs that are specifically for practicing learning the bass clef? thanks

Re: From Treble clef to Bass clef

Reply #15 –
The best way to learn bass clef (or any clef) is the way you learned treble - by exposure and lots of practise.

I'm sure you've heard the "Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge" thing for treble clef; it might help that in bass clef, "Good Boys Deserve Fudge Always." ;-)

Fred

Re: From Treble clef to Bass clef

Reply #16 –
One other thing that can be helpful:
the "middle C", the one that is one extra-line below treble clef, is the SAME note as the note on an extra line ABOVE bass clef.
The rest is practice...
Hint also: The "bass clef" is drawn starting from the F line (the one between the two points you draw last when drawing the clef), the note you weren't able to play on you violin because just under the lowest G...

Re: From Treble clef to Bass clef

Reply #17 –
What is another name for the bass clef?

Re: From Treble clef to Bass clef

Reply #18 –
In french, its name is « clé de fa », precisely because, as Marsu stated, its baseline is the line of F (fa in french).
The treble clef is « clé de sol » because its baseline is the line of G (sol in french). For exotic clefs, we simply add the number of the line where the clef resides just as in « clé de fa, 3ème ligne »

Re: From Treble clef to Bass clef

Reply #19 –
Oliver, you need to clarify what you mean by baseline, because your message is easily misinterpreted.

Re: From Treble clef to Bass clef

Reply #20 –
Ok, I don't know the proper english name for what I called baseline (actually, I don't know the name in french either), but I will try to explain.

For the « clé de fa », the F is on the line between the two dots.

For the « clé de sol », the G is on the line where the drawing of the clef starts.

For the « clé d'ut », the C is on the line in the middle of the (symetric) clef.

The « clé de fa, 3ème ligne » is when the line between the two dots of the clef is the 3rd among the 5 lines of the staff, i.e. the clef lies on the 3rd line of the staff.

I hop this clarifies things.

Re: From Treble clef to Bass clef

Reply #21 –
i know how to play the treble clef on guitar but when i am asked to play bass guitar i am so confused i can't read the music and understand where my fingers go? can anyone help me

Re: From Treble clef to Bass clef

Reply #22 –
Practice! Learn where the notes are, and practise! Here's a starting point for you; the open strings of the bass:

E - below the staff on the first leger line.
A - on the space between the first and second lines.
D - in the middle (third) line.
G - on the space between the fourth and fifth lines.

----------
G
----------

D--------

----------
A
----------

-E-

Re: From Treble clef to Bass clef

Reply #23 –
I play the violin and the piano - so I know how to read the treble and bass cleff.  I am trying to transpose music from the treble cleff into the alto cleff.  Can anyone tell me the notes of the alto cleff - or where middle C is?
 

Re: From Treble clef to Bass clef

Reply #24 –
For the Alto clef - Middle C is on the middle line of the stave, so your line notes from bottom line upwards are - F A C E G