Why does my "Key of G" become "Key of F#" for the Alto Clarinet?
When I insert an all-staves key change to the key of "G" (four sharps), I notice that MuseScore doggedly inserts the key of "F#" (six sharps) specifically for the Alto Clarinet part. Since it is doing this with obvious purpose, I would like to know just what that purpose is.
As you may have guessed, I don’t play the clarinet. WikiPedia tells me that this is a “transposing instrument” that is scored differently than it sounds, so I am guessing that this is what MuseScore is about here. But would some players care to enlighten me?
Also, all you gentle clarinet players out there: am I “scoring stupid” for you, by writing this part (which is about an octave wide, and more or less centers around B4 ...) for this instrument? Are you players going to give me dirty looks when you read this? Would another instrument be more appropriate? Is this a difficult key or range for you to work in?
Comments
Because clarinet is a transposing instrument. Toggle the 'Concert Pitch' button to see. One is how it sounds, the other how it is 'fingered', one more for the composer, the other more for the player.
As for the ranges: just pick the instrument your want it played on and rely on MuseScore to colo(ur)r notes outside its range for you.
All the following are the transposed notes, I'll say if I'm talking about concert pitch.
If it has six sharps, yes. There's a couple of note sequences that are nearly impossible to play when dealing with four sharps or more... middle of the staff(C5ish) B through D# and G#/bottom range(E3) E-G# and C#(4) are all played by pinky fingers. So... something like D#-C#-B-D# is flat impossible at high speeds, because your pinkies are going R-slideR-L-R, for Left and Right hands.
If anyone was wondering why there are Ls and Rs handwritten in used clarinet parts... that's why.
Specifically, D#(5)/G#(3) is ONLY playable with the right hand pinky, and C#(4)/G#(5) is ONLY playable with left hand. Everything else can alternate.
Normally I'd tell you to write the part and then check and see whether the Bb or the A has less accidentals, but Alto only comes in one key. It's really rare, too.
You should be more than fine writing it for A clarinet instead. It's right in the middle range of the instrument - the most used bit. You'll get into the highn chalmaeu if you go below G4 concert, which is a bit of a different kind of sound, darker timbre, reedier, not as easy to hear. Depends on what you're looking to accomplish. If you want alto clarinet for it's sound and are using it as a solo instrument, etc, change the key. Otherwise, use an A.
tl;dr sharps are bad, everything else is fine. Alto Clarinet is weird/rare.
Edit nvm all the previous transposition, I was thinking of C4, which is like an octave away from B4.
If you're wondering what "transposing instrument" really means, you might find this conversation from one year ago interesting: https://musescore.org/en/node/75466