Notation

With the exception of percussion, bass trombone and some tenor trombone music, all brass band music parts are transposing and written in the treble clef with the instrument’s lowest open note (with no valves pressed) notated as middle C. This means that for every valved instrument, from the basses to the soprano cornet, a given note on the stave corresponds to the same valve fingering, enabling players to move more easily between parts. This system is unique to UK-style brass bands, though historically the North American drum and bugle corps followed the British brass band convention of all-treble-clef writing.

Tenor trombone music is usually in treble clef like the other instruments in the band, though older scores or marches sometimes use tenor clef. Music for bass trombone music is written at concert pitch in bass clef. This was historically due to this part being taken by a G bass trombone, rather than the modern B♭ bass trombone (for more details see our Trombones page).

The series of notes below for instruments in B♭, E♭ and C all have the same pitch, although may be separated by one or two octaves depending on the instruments e.g. C played on a B♭ Cornet has the same pitch as G played on an E♭ Tenor Horn and as B♭ on a Bass Trombone, although an octave apart.

Below are the same pitched notes written in tenor clef for instruments in C (Concert pitch) with middle C on the 4th line of the stave, mainly found in brass band music on older music for tenor trombone:

Below are the same notes on a piano keyboard, also in Concert pitch, from B♭ to B♭ over 2 octaves – note that B♭ is “enharmonic” (effectively the same note as) A#, and similarly for D♭ and C# etc.:

Transposing

A brass player who normally reads music written in C in bass clef can play music written in treble clef for E♭ instruments by reading the music as if it was written in bass clef (literally just ignore the treble clef sign and imagine it’s a bass clef sign) and adding 3 flats to the key signature e.g. changing the key signature from A major (3 sharps: F#, C# and G#) to C major (no flats or sharps) or from A minor (no flats or sharps) to C minor (3 flats: B♭, E♭ and A♭).

Vice versa, a brass player who normally reads music in E♭ in treble clef, such as an E♭ Bass player, can play music written in C in bass clef by reading the music as if it was written in treble clef and adding 3 sharps to the key signature e.g. from C major to A major etc.

A brass player who normally reads music in B♭ in treble clef can play music written in C in tenor clef by reading the music as if it was written in treble clef and adding 2 flats to the key signature e.g. changing the key from C major (no flats or sharps) to B♭ major (2 flats: B♭ and E♭) or from B minor (2 sharps: F# and C#) to A minor (no flats or sharps).

However, there is no such easy way to switch between music written in treble clef in B♭ and music written in C in either bass clef or treble clef , or vice versa. Rather than trying to mentally transpose one to another, it is recommended that the player learns to read the 2 forms of notation independently. So rather than think of the lowest note with open valves as being a C, think of it as B♭, or vice versa, and similarly think of D as C or vice versa, etc. On a trombone the lowest note played in 1st position, with the slide pulled fully in, is a concert B♭ or a C if reading music written in treble clef in B♭. Yes, it is a bit mind boggling at first!

Percussion

Tuned percussion is written in concert pitch on the appropriate stave for the instrument – e.g. bass clef for timpani, treble clef for glockenspiel. Drum kit parts are written using standard percussion notation: