Do you believe it is really worth it for a trombone player to learn how to read tenor clef? Why Can`t the modern publishers of today just transpose all of beethoven`s music, wagner, tchaikovsky, mahler etc. and the British Brass band music and put it all into bass clef. take all the music that was originally in tenor clef and put it in bass clef. That would make things easier.

I`ve always wondered about that. Those extraneous clefs are rather useless, and not very commonly used, except in Bach, Beethoven, and Haydn music. I`ve done a few short orchestral pieces, and it is always annoying to have to remember the notes for alto clef (viola parts). It is really useless if you think about it. The notes are only moved one staff line down, and would it kill the viola players to read one more ledger line up? Man, I am glad I play the saxophone.

i guess it helps when the music is really high. i`d hate to see music with every note on a ledger line. it`d be a biitch to read. =/ at least if i memorize tenor clef i`ll have it down pat w/o counting all the ledger lines to make sure i`m getting the right notes...

and is alto clef just one ledger line different? i`ve always thought it was a pretty big shift. i mean, C (one ledger-line above or below depending on the clef) moves to the center. so isn`t that like, a 3 staff line shift?

tenor clef seems kinda stupid. THAT one is how you described, like a one ledger line change or so... =/