Hiya,

I've been hearing different opinions on the best way to read music when playing the viola....some people say you can just transpose from treble clef in your head, whilst others say that you should learn the alto clef properly.

Is one method better than the other? Which is easier? I'd appreciate hearing any thoughts on this

Thanks!

Learn alto clef properly.

Liz

Deffinatly (deffinately?) learn the alto clef properly.

Hear hear, learn it properly. You'll need treble on the viola in later grades, but it's always good to be able to use the right clef in the right place. No reason why you can transpose as well, assuming you have some treble clef, (or even bass clef) music you want to play on viola. I intend to do that, but also to make sure alto is the clef of choice.

Learn it properly!

I hate the look of the alto clef, but you should learn it proporly.

Oh, definitely learn it properly. When I started viola, I was transposing up from Bass clef because the strings were the same as my cello - disasterous at high speeds and causes problems later when using the other clef for other instruments.

I bought a clef trainer manual from the local music shop and it had me reading alto clef fluently in a couple of weeks with simply daily exercises on instant note recognition.

It won't take long and it will make all the difference.

Allan

Thanks for all your replies......I'd better get learning then! Allan, can you remember the name of the clef-trainer manual that you used? I could do with something like that

Tell me more! Do you have the details of this publication? Sounds like a really useful one for me too as I know treble well, but my bass is rusty and alto non-existant and I want to know them all fluently.

Thanks!

I'd agree with my esteemed () colleagues, learn it properly. Or do you best to! I still struggle with it if I think too hard, and I'm not sure it'll ever be as fluent as treble clef, BUT, it's better than constantly attempting to transpose in your head.

Here are the book details for those who would like to quickly improve their key fluency (this isn't just for alto, it covers all clefs in current use).

Dandelot by Editions Eschig : Manuel pratique pour l'étude des clés

ISMN M-045-04306-3

You can also check their website for more details: www.durand-salabert-eschig.com

The website of the printer: www.ridcordi.com

Hope that's of some use, I think it's an excellent book.

Allan

Here are the book details for those who would like to quickly improve their key fluency (this isn't just for alto, it covers all clefs in current use).

Dandelot by Editions Eschig : Manuel pratique pour l'étude des clés

ISMN M-045-04306-3

You can also check their website for more details: www.durand-salabert-eschig.com

The website of the printer: www.ridcordi.com

Hope that's of some use, I think it's an excellent book.

Allan

Looks like I would need to improve my French fluency before I could improve my clef fluency

Sounds like something else to save up for...........

I'm not a viola player, but from my limited opportunities to play violas and try to play music in alto clef I have tried to transpose it by thinking "one string higher and one note up" from how it would be played on a violin. I can imagine that the sensible thing would be to simply learn how to read it as I doubt I would be able to do that at any sort of speed, but I never took up playing it in the end.

There's always my patented (janexxx TM) "Viola Clef for Violinists".

Its a C clef that sits on the next to the bottom line (instead of the middle line). So you imagine its a treble clef and you are playing a violin. Where you would put your finger for the G in treble clef is where you put your finger for a C in the new patented clef. It's bound to catch on I'm sure!

I think it would all be OK until the need for key signatures, but this could be overcome by having everything in C and loads of accidentals

Don't forget you saw it here first!!

Will do!

I found it fairly easy to relate the positions on the alto clef with the positions on the figerboard. Then later on, you can learn what the name of each note is, it comes slowly.

I think it's actually a disadvantage in some ways to be transferring from violin: someone who starts on the viola and reading alto clef doesn't have to get over associating the note in one particular space or on a line with a certain fingering which is different on the alto to what it is on treble - ie I actually have to think momentarily when I see a C below the stave on the alto clef, because in my head it's irrevocably B, 2nd finger on a G string - to play it as an open string will probably always feel slightly weird as I played the violin as my first instrument and the notes and relations and associations on it will probably always be more natural to me than those for viola. Someone who's starting from scratch has no such preconceived assumptions to get over.

It's a bit like learning languages, people always think, when I tell them I did Russian at uni, that "oooh the alphabet must be so hard", whereas actually because it's mostly SO different, it's not really a problem, whereas I think sometimes languages that use the Roman alphabet but have very different pronounciations of certain letters necessitate more mental agility especially on first learning them.

I find I can know what the notes are, ie say "that's a C, that's a D" etc, and have a bash on the piano or some other instrument where the notes are laid out before you, OR I can play the notes on a viola. Playing what I see on the viola and simultaneously being able to say or think "that's F#, that's an A" etc does my head in

I hope so! I'm not in any hurry, so hopefully I'll pick the alto clef up over time......and the bass clef too, as I'm messing about with the cello too. I really can't spend too much time playing the viola or I'll hurt my back again, but that's OK as I'm concentrating on the oboe anyway. It's nice being an adult learner, because you can do everything at your own pace without worrying about exams if you'd rather not do them

In that case, I'm in with a chance - I learnt Chinese!

Wow! You learnt Chinese and got a BA(Hons)! Oh my god! Makes me feel so ashamed hehehe. I'm Chinese yet I hated learning it in school. Too many idioms and my teacher in Primary 3 killed my interest for it. I can speak ok but I can't write very well. Then again, I came from an English speaking family.

Anyway, back to topic. I think it would be better to learn Alto Clef otherwise when you get to the treble clef parts, you will get all muddled up.

Hi, I've been playing viola for about 3 years, having played violin for 20 years before that, and I have to say that to start with I played everything "two notes down" if you get my drift. I managed well, but for the accidentals, and the C string of course! After about a year, suddenly it all clicked, and now I read properly. I can't remember just how it clicked but it just did. I now play regurlarly in a quartet and much prefer the viola. Good luck!!