Ok, I have a piece of music, a jazz piece incase your wondering, and it has four parts. I was hoping to play it with two of my friends, but it calls for four parts. The fourth part, unfortunatly, is a bass clarinet part. None of us has a bass clarinet (except for the school one, but that's disgusting) and I need to transpose it so that we could fit in another part. Now, I know that the bass clarinet is in Bb like the regular clarinet, but it just so happens that it's in a bass clef. I haven't had much experience playing in the bass clef, so if someone could tell me how many half steps it would take for a bass clarinet (Bb), playing in a bass clef, to be an octave higher in the key of a regular clarinet (Bb). So, basically, transpose both the clef and octave so it's playable by a regular clarinet and should sound in key. (And don't worry, I'm doing this in a computer-compusing system, so I'm not writing this all out).

bass clarinets written in treble clef sound one octave below a soprano reading the same part, (so an octave and a step down from written pitch, or whatever)
but bass clarinet written in bass clef sounds just the step down.
since you're staying in the same key, don't worry about the differences from sounding pitch and written pitch, just the octave. pretty much, just visualize a piano staff, and take the part up an octave. so, 2nd space C on bass clef becomes C under the treble staff. this will put it at standard written pitches for bass clarinet. when you play the part on a soprano clarinet, it will sound an octave higher than actually intended, but considering the range bass clarinet parts are typically written in, particularly when they serve as the bass voice in a small ensemble, you probably won't be able to take it down an octave.

i hope i helped! (i also hope i got it right, i've never actually done this for real. i'm only logic-ing my way through it )

I'll try that, thanks!
I was hoping for just a certian amount of half steps, but it looks like i'll have to transpose it all by hand.... joy...
Thanks, anyways.

if you merely move it up one space/line (first space to 2nd space, from bass -> treble, for instance)and swap the clef, it will be the right note, but it will sound two octaves higher when played on a soprano clarinet than it ought to when played on a bass as intended. this is probably easier, if you don't care about preserving the character of the part.

What music writing program are you using? Why would you want to play a bass clar part of Bb clar anyway?

(A little late, but whatever)

THe only reason is that the group I was going to play it with didn't have a bass clarinet, and none of us knew how to play it well. I mean, I know the fingerings are basically the same, but all three of us have worked for at least 4 years to get a good clarinet tone, not a bass clarinet tone...

Really it sounds like you need to find another person, since you say you have three people and four parts. transposing won't do you any good if everyone's already playing a part.

Um, same question as Hump...