leger lines question..

[eucalyptus]

hi. i'm learning to read music for bass and am wondering what happens when you get up into the third octave range.. i have seen sheet music which covers up to the second octave with leger lines, but haven't come across any which deals with the notes for highest thumb-positions. how are those notes written? thanks!

[JtheJazzMan]

well, either you could start going up into the treble clef, or if you want to stick to bass clef you can label a passage 8va, which means you transpose it up an octave. ie, you will be playing the notes an octave higher compared to where you would normally play them

[eucalyptus]

cool, makes sense. thanks

[TomGale]

In the dark ages - when the range was about C or D above the G octave- they wrote alot in the tenor clef. Now, its mostly treble because of the increased range but to play the older sonatas, etc., its still necessary to know the tenor also... like the Eccles, etc.
Tom Gale
ASODB.com