I have recently rekindled my love for the clarinet and have gone online in search of music. I have found lots of midi files as well as Finale Notepad files with clarinet music or music suitable for clarinet, but would of course be happy to receive your recommendations for more. (particularly jazz etc.).
My problem is that all the midi files I find and many of the Finale files appear on my screen as if the clarinet was tuned in C. In other words, the clarinet is notated in the same key as the piano, orchestra or whatever. Well, 25 - 30 years ago when I thought I was going to grow up to be a professional musician, I could transpose on the fly while sight reading, but these days I find it a challenge and anyway, it is not the way to learn a new piece of music.
Does anyone know how I can make Anvil or Finale Notepad display the clarinet part as written for a Bb instrument and still play in harmony with the other instrument parts? I have found some Finale files where the clarinet part is written in the correct key, but then it plays out of key with the other instruments.
In one case (Saties’s Gymnopedie no1), I got so flustered that I picked up my whistle and played it on that instead. It turned out to be rather a nice piece for the whistle, but I need to practice clarinet more than I need to practice whistle.
I knew that, but it so happens it’s not always easy to do on the fly and for learning new material I would prefer to have it displayed notated for Bb clarinet. When I was younger, I would frequently transpose on the fly from concert pitch notation as well as scores written for A clarinet (before I had an A clarinet), but that was when I was younger and used to practice several hours every day.
Anyway, I did find a workaround, but there is probably a more elegant way of doing it.
Here is what I did:
1: Import the midi file in to Anvil Studio.
2: Sort out any “silly problems” like wrong time signature etc
3. Clone the clarinet track and name the new one “Clarinet in C”.
4. Transpose the original “Clarinet in Bb” track up two semitones.
5. Change the key of the “Clarinet in Bb” track.
6. Mute the “Clarinet in Bb” track.
7. Save file
8. Click “Play”.
Anvil Studio now plays the clarinet in C track plus piano etc. and I play the clarinet track reading the (muted) Clarinet in Bb notation. As I progress, I will of course mute the “Clarinet in C” track too, but at the moment it helps me with tuning and intonation to have the “synthetic” clarinet playing along.
(This will of course work for other instruments too.)
Now I just need to figure out how to make Anvil Studio give me enough time to pick up my horn after I click “play”. (Yes, I could insert a couple of empty measures, but I’d prefer not to mess any more with the score.)
